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European solution is answer to EU refugee crisis: Mogherini

Xinhua, January 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini here on Friday said that the real answer to EU refugee crisis is to try and make the European solution, and work for real implementing the decision of what the EU has taken.

She made the remarks when addressing a forum at the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

She said that leaders and citizens realized that, without the EU and its unity, "we could not face the problems of terrorism, migrants and refugees."

Mogherini pointed out that, although it had taken eight months of summits to craft a coherent Europe-wide response to refugees, it was now up to the national governments to implement the response.

"I do not see it as a failure that it took this long. This is a European issue; finally we are doing something... we need to implement the European solution," she said.

"National answers or solutions so far have not provided any way-out, that is why eight months ago we have tried to start a European solution, which is not implemented yet, and that is the problem," she said.

Europe's choice is "disorganized chaotic arrivals or a more organized response," including a stronger humanitarian response in Syria, said David Miliband, President of the U.S. International Rescue Committee.

"Relocation is part of the answer in Europe, but it isn't the only answer," according to Miliband, evidence showed that the greatest terrorist threat to the continent comes from people born in Europe.

The hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the war in Ukraine into Poland is an unrecognized crisis, said Witold Waszczykowski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland.

The minister said that it is important to focus on the conflict on Europe's eastern borders, adding that in terms of refugees from the south, Europe was caught by surprise, but in 2015 Europe managed to organize itself and started dealing with Turkey.

A number of measures had been introduced by the EU to deal with the refugee crisis, including the adoption of two emergency schemes to relocate 160,000 people in need of international protection from countries most affected to other EU member states.

Earlier in January, the European Commission announced that only around 0.17 percent of asylum seekers arriving in Greece and Italy have been resettled so far in other EU states. Endit