Top EU officials call for concrete actions ahead of emergency refugee summit

Top officials from European Union (EU) institutions on Wednesday called on leaders of member states to take concrete actions in coping with the refugee crisis ahead of an emergency summit.

Heads of state or government from the 28 EU member states gathered here late Wednesday for another emergency summit on the refugee crisis, a day after ministers pushed through a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees by a majority vote despite objections from several member states.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the press, "I would have liked of course if this decision had been taken by consensus, but that was not possible."

"I am expecting that this evening the European Council will be in favor of the proposal put forward by the European Commission," he added.

The European Commission earlier that day proposed more financial aid and a set of priority actions to be taken in the following months to address the refugee crisis.

According to the new proposal, the emergency fund for the most affected member states may increase to 100 million euros (112 million U.S. dollars) this year. In 2016, emergency funding for the most affected member states and relevant EU agencies would be increased by 600 million euros.

Juncker said a total of 200 million euros would be added to emergency humanitarian aid in 2015. Meanwhile, humanitarian aid would be increased by 300 million euros in 2016.

Simultaneously, the Commission committed to increasing support to stabilize Turkey and Macedonia.

Juncker urged leaders of the member states to approve the proposal.

"This is time for action and time for meeting words with ambitious actions," he said.

Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, echoed his colleague, saying the European Council later needed to "bring about result."

Schulz called on leaders to reach agreements on the solutions and find concrete answers to the refugee crisis.

"We don't need idealism tonight. I hope the heads of states or government will show their pragmatism," he said.

Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, said before he stepped into the talk "Discussions among member states are at a critical point; we must end the cycle of mutual recriminations and misunderstandings."

"The most urgent question today is how we can manage our borders effectively," Tusk said, adding that the EU needed to strengthen external border controls.

Tusk said he would also propose short-term measures to the summit.

"We should offer more help to refugees. Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and other countries in the region need more help, as do the EU frontline countries," he said.

EU member states on Tuesday approved the proposal to relocate 120,000 migrants by a majority vote. The latest agreement brought the amount of the total relocation quota within the EU to 160,000.

According to the agenda, EU leaders will discuss the immediate priority actions which are necessary to address the instability in the EU's vicinity, and the refugee pressures on neighboring countries. Endit