EU summons leaders for refugee crisis summit
The European Union has announced an emergency summit in Brussels next Wednesday in a bid to find solutions to the continent's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
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Europe is facing the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War [Getty]
The European Union has announced an emergency summit in Brussels in a bid to find solutions to the continent's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
"I convene an extra EUCO (summit) on Wednesday 23 September at 6:00pm (4pm GMT) to discuss how to deal with the refugee crisis," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council in a tweet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann had called for a summit after EU interior ministers in Brussels failed to reach agreement on Monday on how to redistribute refugees from overstretched Hungary, Italy and Greece.
Interior ministers from the 28 member states are to hold a new emergency meeting next Tuesday to make a last-ditch attempt to decide on relocating some 120,000 people.
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have voiced strong objections to any mandatory relocation scheme.
"President Tusk would like to focus on other immediate issues that need tackling urgently if we want to get the situation under control, including in our neighbourhood," said a letter from Tusk's office obtained by AFP.
It said Tusk would also brief the leaders on his visits last week to Turkey, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Cyprus, as well as his trips to Egypt on Saturday and Jordan on Sunday, which all focused on the "shared challenges of migration".
Last week Tusk warned that he would call a special summit if ministers failed to agree on a solution at the Brussels meeting, stressing the need for "solidarity and unity".
Pressure for action mounted on Thursday after the European parliament backed a relocation plan for 120,000 refugees.
"I convene an extra EUCO (summit) on Wednesday 23 September at 6:00pm (4pm GMT) to discuss how to deal with the refugee crisis," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council in a tweet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann had called for a summit after EU interior ministers in Brussels failed to reach agreement on Monday on how to redistribute refugees from overstretched Hungary, Italy and Greece.
Interior ministers from the 28 member states are to hold a new emergency meeting next Tuesday to make a last-ditch attempt to decide on relocating some 120,000 people.
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have voiced strong objections to any mandatory relocation scheme.
"President Tusk would like to focus on other immediate issues that need tackling urgently if we want to get the situation under control, including in our neighbourhood," said a letter from Tusk's office obtained by AFP.
It said Tusk would also brief the leaders on his visits last week to Turkey, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Cyprus, as well as his trips to Egypt on Saturday and Jordan on Sunday, which all focused on the "shared challenges of migration".
Last week Tusk warned that he would call a special summit if ministers failed to agree on a solution at the Brussels meeting, stressing the need for "solidarity and unity".
Pressure for action mounted on Thursday after the European parliament backed a relocation plan for 120,000 refugees.
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