The refugee crisis facing
Europe has made the Dublin regulations on political asylum in
the EU "obsolete", German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the
European Parliament on Wednesday.
"I am committed to working on a new procedure that complies
with the demands of equity and solidarity," Merkel said.
Under the Dublin rules asylum applications must be handled
by the first country of entry, which rarely coincides with the
country where asylum seekers want to end up.
This, combined with the large influx of refugees and
migrants into Europe in recent months and their determination to
reach their final destination, has led the system to
near-collapse.
"More Europe is needed to tackle the migrant crisis, not
national approaches," continued Merkel, however adding that
"economic migrants cannot stay".
"That way we can help those fleeing from war," she said.
The creation of a "free state" in Libya and Syria and "the
restitution of a dignified life in refugees' home countries
without the terror of bombs and death is a European task but
also a global one", the German chancellor said.
"Our message today is that Europe must make a decisive
contribution to the resolution of these crises," she concluded.
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