EU president defends refugee plan despite Paris attacks

Published November 16, 2015
Lesbos: A mother hugs her children after disembarking as migrants and refugees arrive on the Greek island after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Sunday.—AFP
Lesbos: A mother hugs her children after disembarking as migrants and refugees arrive on the Greek island after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Sunday.—AFP

ANTALYA: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker firmly defended on Sunday the EU’s hotly-contested plan to redistribute refugees across Europe despite calls by Poland to scrap the scheme after the deadly attacks in Paris.

The EU’s eastern-most members have been furious over the redistribution plan agreed in October, calling instead for a stronger EU outer-border, but Juncker warned against using the tragedy in Paris as means to roll it back.

“I would like to invite those in Europe who are trying to change the migration agenda we have adopted... to be serious about this and not to give in to these basic reactions. I don’t like it,” Juncker told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ meeting in Antalya, Turkey.

The fresh criticism of the plan emerged after officials in Greece said a Syrian passport found at the scene of the mass shooting in a Paris concert hall belonged to an asylum seeker who registered on a Greek island in October.

Greek police did not rule out that the passport had changed hands before the attacks.

Poland’s incoming European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski led the charge against the EU saying that Warsaw no longer considered the plan as a “political possibility” in the light of the Paris attacks.

But Juncker said that “those who organised, who perpetrated the attacks are the very same people who the refugees are fleeing and not the opposite”.

“And so there is no need for an overall review of the European policy on refugees,” Juncker said.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Kurram atrocity
Updated 22 Nov, 2024

Kurram atrocity

It would be a monumental mistake for the state to continue ignoring the violence in Kurram.
Persistent grip
22 Nov, 2024

Persistent grip

PAKISTAN has now registered 50 polio cases this year. We all saw it coming and yet there was nothing we could do to...
Green transport
22 Nov, 2024

Green transport

THE government has taken a commendable step by announcing a New Energy Vehicle policy aiming to ensure that by 2030,...
Military option
Updated 21 Nov, 2024

Military option

While restoring peace is essential, addressing Balochistan’s socioeconomic deprivation is equally important.
HIV/AIDS disaster
21 Nov, 2024

HIV/AIDS disaster

A TORTUROUS sense of déjà vu is attached to the latest health fiasco at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. The largest...
Dubious pardon
21 Nov, 2024

Dubious pardon

IT is disturbing how a crime as grave as custodial death has culminated in an out-of-court ‘settlement’. The...