Refugee crisis

The Greens/EFA group is supporting calls for a high-level debate in the European Parliament next week, ahead of the emergency meeting of EU home affairs ministers on 14 September and anticipated proposals from the EU Commission. In this context, Greens/EFA co-president Rebecca Harms and other Green MEPs will visit Hungary on Friday to assess the situation on the ground and the government's response. Commenting on the situation, Greens/EFA president Rebecca Harms said:

"The chaotic and, in places, inhumane response to the refugee emergency across Europe is now clearly a threat to the common values on which the EU is founded. Nowhere is this more evident than in the response of the Hungarian government to, what is first and foremost, a humanitarian crisis, however Hungary is clearly not the only case. The European Commission and Council must vigorously assess any measures by EU governments that are at odds with their European Treaty obligations or EU law and take robust action if breaches are confirmed. However, it is also clear that there is a crisis of solidarity and that there will be no solution without a coherent EU response.

Greens/EFA co-president Philippe Lamberts said:

"We urgently need to find a solution to ensuring a fair distribution of asylum seekers across all EU member states and the blockage by certain EU governments to realising this must be overcome. We also need a more fundamental shift in thinking. The current crisis is a direct result of the short-sighted and irresponsible refusal by member states to coordinate on immigration and asylum policy. We finally need to replace the dysfunctional Dublin system. We also need a policy with a much greater focus on addressing the issues that force people to leave their countries of origin, whilst providing proper legal routes for migration and putting a much greater focus on protecting those refugees who will continue to take dangerous journeys."