(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, proposed Wednesday the relocation of an additional 120,000 migrants from Greece, Italy and Hungary across the 28 member countries of the European Union.
"This has to be done in a compulsory way, I call on member states to adopt the Commission proposals on the emergency location of altogether 160,000 refugees at the Council of interior Ministers on 14 September, "he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg in his first address on the state of the Union.
"160,000, that is the number Europeans have to take in charge and to take in their arms. I hope this time everyone will be on board," he said.
He noted that the European Commission may propose the relocation of 40,000 refugees from Greece and Italy.
Juncker said that the number of refugees coming to Europe make up only 0.11 percent of total EU population, and praised Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey for hosting over 4 million refugees.
"It is time for bold, determined and concerted action by the European Union, by its institutions and by all its Member States. It is Europe today that represents a beacon of hope, a haven of stability in the eyes of women and men in the Middle East and in Africa," he said.
"As long as there is war in Syria and terror in Libya the refugee crisis will not end. Human beings coming from Libya and Syria today could easily be the case in Ukraine tomorrow. Europe has made the mistake in the past of distinguishing between Jews, Christians and Muslims. There are no religion, no belief, and no philosophy when it comes to refugees," he stressed.
He noted that since the beginning of the year about 500,000 people mainly from Syria, Libya and Eritrea have made their way to Europe. The most affected countries are Greece with over 200,000 refugees, Hungary around 150,000 and Italy with 120,000.
He reminded the House that millions of Europeans were also refugees in the in the last century fleeing wars, dictatorships and oppression.
He also proposed a permanent relocation mechanism for refugees in Europe to deal with the crisis situation more swiftly in the future and called on member states to support the European common asylum policy and stressed that "the Schengen system will not be abolished." Juncker stressed that the refugee crisis will not be over soon and condemned anti-migrant acts such a s pushing back refugee boats to the sea and attacks on refugee shelters saying "that is not Europe." He also spoke in favor to allow asylum seekers to work and said the today the Commission is proposing a common EU list of safe countries of origin which will enable Member States to fast track asylum procedures for nationals of countries that are presumed safe to live in.
He called for a European diplomatic offensive to solve the crisis in Libya and Syria, and noted that the European Commission is proposing to establish an emergency trust fund of 1.8 billion euro to deal with the crises in Sahel region, Horn of Africa and North Africa.
Almost a year after taking the position of president of the EU Commission, in his first State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, Juncker said "EU is not in a good situation. There is a lack of Europe in the Union and lack of Union in Europe. We have to change this." In his lengthy speech, Juncker also spoke about the crises in Greece and Ukraine, trade agreement with the US and about climate change.
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