Avramopoulos: Time for common European solutions on asylum system
"It is the time for common European solutions in order to meet in a fair, balanced and long term manner the weaknesses of the European asylum system," said European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos in comments to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency ahead of a mini-summit on migration and asylum being convened by European commission president Jean Claude Juncker in Brussels today.
As the commissioner highlighted in a press conference he gave in Brussels last week, the EU's asylum terms and the handling of the refugees crisis are two issues that need to be solved as conditions to the free movement of people and the operation of the Schengen zone.
Avramopoulos also highlighted that backward steps by national policies on refugees are not a choice and will not have any result, adding that he is convinced there are areas where progress is possible, such as the commitment to find a solution to all parts of the common European asylum system by the end of the year, picking up the pace of returns, cooperating with other states on handling the deeper causes of migration, continuing to apply the EU-Turkey agreement and boosting the protection of borders.
He adds the European refugee policy is based on, and should continue to be based on, European values of solidarity, responsibility and respect of human rights and stated that he opposes every prospect of creating a "Guantanamo" type center for migrants.
"We must secure the principals and unity of Europe in a spirit of responsibility. Europe can only move ahead united," said the commissioner.
Source: AMNA
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