Refugee crisis: France urge EU to tighten up border controls

Francois Hollande, the French President has urged the European Union (EU) to tighten up its external border controls in order to face the refugee influx.

"Germany, like France, calls for Europe to have control over its borders in order for the refugees to be received in dignity and in a controlled manner," Hollande told reporters on Monday as he visited Haute-Saone department in the east of country.

Francois said control centers would allow EU countries to distinguish between refugees and migrants.

"It will make distinguishable who falls under [the definition of] asylum seekers and those related to serious economic distortions," Hollande added.

Germany announced on Sunday the imposition of temporary controls on its borders in a bid to contain the situation, where hundreds of thousands of people are trying to enter the country.

Europe, which is facing what is described as the worst refugee crisis in the continent since World War II, recently decided to accept up to 140,000 refugees.

However, the UN's refugee agency said recently that at least 850,000 people are expected to cross the Mediterranean this year and in 2016.

The European Commission said Sunday that the new measures were not in violation of the Schengen Agreement, which guarantees free movement between participating member states for EU citizens.

Tens of thousands of refugees are fleeing their war-torn countries, especially Syria, Iraq and Libya, risking their lives while crossing the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy or from Turkey to Greece.

Amnesty International has said that this route, which sees refugees and migrants cross from Turkey to Greece before heading through Macedonia and Serbia to EU-member Hungary, may be less perilous than the Mediterranean crossing from Libya but still carries a high degree of risk.



Source: BloomGist