Athens Calls Upon EU to Share the Burden of the Refugee Crisis More Fairly

STRASBOURG (Sputnik) — The European Union policy regarding the migration crisis must be based on the establishment of peace and growth in the refugees' countries of origin and the sharing of responsibility among the EU member states, which should accept their fair share of the refugees, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Nikolaos Voutsis told Sputnik.

“The policy must be based on the two pillars. The first is the pillar of peace and growth in those countries that have been destabilized throughout the last years, that is the Middle East and Northern Africa, so people do not want to leave their countries. That is the key goal for the international community. The second pillar concerns the refugees that have been already produced these last years. It is important for the European Union to assume its own share of the responsibility and the burden. Each country of the EU must accept to take up a few thousands of the refugees,” Nikolaos Voutsis said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Strasbourg, he added that "each country of the EU must accept to take up a few thousands of the refugees."

The Conference, held under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) kicked off Thursday in the French city of Strasbourg. The Conference includes the participation of speakers and presidents of the parliaments of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as of countries holding observer or partner status with the organization and some Central Asian and Maghreb states.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex recorded more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into the bloc in 2015. Greece is the main transit route for refugees coming across the Aegean Sea from Turkey.