The heads of state and government of EU member states agreed on a number of measures at an extraordinary informal meeting convened by President Tusk in response to the migration and refugee crisis.
Key measures agreed include to:
- Contribute at least an additional 1 billion euro towards the urgent needs of refugees in the region by helping the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme and other agencies ;
- Provide support and assistance to front-line Member States such as Greece and Italy, from EU institutions, agencies and other Members States, in order to ensure identification, registration and fingerprinting of migrants (hotspots), and at the same time ensure relocation and returns, at the latest by November 2015;
- Assist countries neighbouring Syria in dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis, including through a substantial increase of the EU’s Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis (“Madad Fund”);
- Reinforce the dialogue with Turkey at all levels, including at the upcoming visit of the Turkish President (5 October), in order to strengthen cooperation on stemming and managing the migratory flows;
- Assist the Western Balkan countries in handling the refugee flows, including through pre-accession instruments, as well as ensure a speedy and solid preparation of the Western Balkans route conference (8 October);
- Increase the funding of the Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa through additional contributions by Member States, and ensure an optimal preparation of the Valletta Summit (11-12 November) to achieve maximum progress;
- Tackle the dramatic situation at our external borders and strengthen controls at those borders, including through additional resources for Frontex, EASO and Europol, and with personnel and equipment from Member States;
- Enhance the funding of the Emergency Fund for Asylum, Integration and Migration and the Internal Security Fund-Borders.
For more information:
See: Statement following extraordinary, Informal meeting of EU heads of state and government on migration, 23 September 2015.
See also: European Commission press release on Managing the refugee crisis: Immediate operational, budgetary and legal measures under the European Agenda on Migration.
See also: European Commission press release on More Responsibility in managing the refugee crisis: European Commission adopts 40 infringement decisions to make European Asylum System work.
