European Union ministers were summoned on Sunday to meet in two weeks’ time to seek urgent solutions to a migration crisis unprecedented in the bloc’s history, as the mounting death toll on land and sea forced governments to respond.
Luxembourg, which holds the rotating EU presidency, called interior ministers from all 28 member states to an extraordinary meeting on September 14, Reuters reported.
It said the meeting would focus on policies on sending some migrants home and measures to prevent human trafficking.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose country has come under great pressure as an entry point to Europe, said the EU would forge “a single European policy on asylum, not as many policies as there are countries.”
The horrors faced by migrants were brought to the heart of the European mainland on Friday when 71 bodies, including those of a baby girl and three other children were found in an abandoned refrigeration truck in Austria.
At least 2,500 migrants have died since January, most of them drowning in the Mediterranean after arduous journeys fleeing war, oppression or poverty in Syria and other parts of the Middle East and Africa or beyond.
Hungary Hits Back at France
Hungary on Sunday lashed out at French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius over his criticism of the country’s new anti-migrant border fence, accusing him of “shocking and groundless” judgments.
Fabius said the razor-wire barrier, which runs the length of Hungary’s border with Serbia, does “not respect Europe’s common values,” also describing as “scandalous” the attitude of “a certain number of European countries, particularly in the east” who oppose a quota scheme for the distribution of migrants across EU member states.
In response, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, “Instead of shocking and groundless judgments, one should instead concentrate on finding common solutions for Europe.”
The Hungarian Army at the weekend finished erecting its controversial barrier, which consists of three rolls of razor wire extending along its 175-kilometer border with non-EU member Serbia.
