Off the wire
• Magna Carta on its way to China, via New York  • 11,000 migrants cross Austrian border on Monday: red cross  • Urgent: U.S. stocks tumble following European markets  • Roundup: Portugal's poll before elections puts ruling coalition ahead  • Portugal to receive up to 4,500 refugees, gov't reveals  • Chicago agricultural commodities futures market ends lower on harvest expectation  • Volkswagen Scandal: French MEP slams VW lobbyists for going "off the rails"  • Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • Germany's benchmark DAX index slumps  • 1st LD Writethru: Gold futures extend losses on firmer U.S. dollar  
You are here: 　 Home

EU's Juncker urges efforts on solving refugee crisis at budget meeting

Xinhua, September 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday continued to urge efforts on solving refugee crisis at a budget meeting.

Juncker made the fresh appeal in his address to afternoon's conference "EU Budget focused on Results", while the EU's interior ministers were struggling to iron out difference on relocating another 120,000 refugees.

The bloc's proposed budget for next year is 143.5 billion euros. "We need now, first and foremost, to use the budget to solve the refugee crisis," the president said.

In a draft budget, funds for asylum and security have been in place, as well as a trust fund to tackle "the root causes of irregular migration" in parts of Africa.

Meanwhile, some 9 billion euros is set aside to respond to the bloc's external crises, "such as those in Ukraine and Syria." But more money is expected.

"We will propose steps towards a European Border and Coast guard. Naturally, we will have to find appropriate funds for this, too," he said.

Juncker again called on member states to show "solidarity" on coping with migrant influx which put the EU's passport-free policy under threat as several countries have imposed border controls.

"Closing borders is not the solution," he said. "If you have survived bombs and warfare and crossed the Mediterranean in a rubber boat, a fence won't stop you." Endit