Hollande: Europe Should Unite to Cope With Migrant Crisis

BERLIN (Sputnik) — European countries have to unite and to adopt a unified policy to solve the migrant crisis in the European Union, French President Francois Hollande said Monday.

“We will discuss a very complicated situation that developed because of the influx of migrants to Europe… This is a unique situation for the whole Europe and we have to unite and to adopt a unified policy,” Hollande said.

He added that France and Germany support the idea of establishment of registration centers in Greece and Italy, the countries where the majority of migrants arrive in. The officials in these centers will decide whether the migrants have grounds for the asylum or simply want to immigrate to Europe.

Europe is facing a major refugee crisis, as thousands of asylum seekers from conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia attempt to escape poverty and violence in their home countries.

The majority migrants arrive in Europe by sea. According to the estimates of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Italy and Greece have already received about 103,000 and 150,000 refugees respectively this year.

According to Frontex, the EU external border protection agency, the overall number of refugees detected at EU borders between January and July 2015 stands at 340,000. According to the agency’s data, the quantity of migrants almost tripled compared to the same period of 2014.