"With few opportunities to enter the EU by regular means, thousands of people have no choice but to take the dangerous sea route," the UNHCR says (Photo: AFM)
(VOVworld) – The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday that EU member countries have a long way to go to agree on the number of asylum seekers that each member should receive.
At a press conference in Berlin held with Italy’s Foreign Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, Steinmeier said that Italy and Germany agreed that the application of a compulsory quota was the only way to share the burden of asylum seekers fairly among EU members.
He said Libya was the gateway for asylum seekers to enter Europe and affirmed that if the EU did not enhance Libya’s law enforcement, it would be difficult to reduce the numbers fleeing through Libya.
Earlier on Tuesday, EU interior ministers said they could not make any decision on deploying the European Commission’s suggestions of sharing the 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea and settlement for 20,000 Syrians who are living in shelters outside Europe. EU leaders will hold new discussions on this issue at a high-level meeting in Brussels, scheduled to take place on June 25th and 26th.