The European Union summit
marked a significant step forward in bringing the bloc towards
Italy's position on tackling the refugee crisis, Premier Matteo
Renzi said Thursday.
"It has been an important night for Italy," Renzi said
after the close of the summit early Thursday morning.
"Until a few months ago, we got dirty looks when we said
that this issue concerns everyone".
The premier added that leaders had agreed the so-called
hotspots for identifying and registering asylum-seekers, the
redistribution of refugees and EU management of repatriations of
those whose asylum requests are rejected would start "by the end
of November".
The override of the Dublin regulation requiring asylum
requests to be processed by the first country of entry "is a
matter of fact", Renzi said.
"Naturally it must be handled carefully because of public
opinion in the individual countries, but it is like flexibility
(on EU budget rules): we'll get there one small step at a time."
On Tuesday EU interior ministers reached an agreement to
redistribute 120,000 asylum-seekers from the front-line
countries of Italy, Greece and Hungary across the bloc despite
refusal by some Eastern European countries to back the plan.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he
was "fairly satisfied" with the outcome of Wednesday's informal
summit, even as front-line charities such as the Jesuit Refugee
Service Centro Astalli in Rome said many questions remained
unanswered.
The Jesuits highlighted the problem of how to prevent more
migrant drownings in the Mediterranean, for example.
Over 2,800 migrants and refugees are known to have died in
the Mediterranean since the start of this year while making the
perilous crossing in search of safety and a better life in
Europe.
"In the absence of common and coordinated EU action, the
situation on Europe's borders will in all likelihood
deteriorate," the Jesuits said in a statement.
Meanwhile European Council President Donald Tusk of Poland
said the EU's policy of "open doors and windows" needed to be
"corrected".
"It is clear that the great tide of refugees is yet to
arrive," said Tusk, adding that the EU needed to be thinking in
terms of "millions of potential refugees from Syria alone,
without considering Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and other places"
where people are "determined to reach Europe".
On Thursday Greece said 1,200 refugees had arrived on the
island of Lesbos from Turkey in one hour alone on 24 separate
vessels.
As well, French TV news channel BFM reported that a migrant
aged around 20 was killed by a freight train near the Channel
Tunnel entrance in Calais in the early hours of Thursday
morning.
His death took to 11 the number of migrants who have died
since the start of the summer in and around Calais in the
attempt to reach Britain.
Also on Thursday, tension rose between Croatia and Serbia
over the 'countermeasures' introduced by Belgrade in response to
border restrictions levied by Zagreb amid claims its non-EU
neighbour was directing the flow of migrants arriving through
the Balkans across their common border.
Croatia banned Serbian passport holders and cars registered
in Serbia from entering the country amid claims by Belgrade of
"racism".
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