ZURICH (Reuters) – Events in Afghanistan could be a catalyst for the European Union to forge a common migration policy, European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas said in a newspaper interview. “It is true that we are now in a major crisis, but the EU did not cause the situation, yet we are once again called upon to be part of a solution,” the Greek commissioner, whose brief includes migration policy, told Austrian daily Wiener Zeitung. While not seeing a migration crisis, he said he wanted to “avoid a reflex that takes us back to the crisis year 2015 before it is even clear how the situation will develop”. The EU was better prepared this time, with stronger external border protection and financial resources to help Afghanistan’s neighbours, while EU states’ policies were increasingly converging, Schinas said. “Therefore, I see now as the moment to agree on a common European migration and asylum policy, as we proposed in the EU Commission in September,” he said.

Source: MetroXpress September 04, 2021 14:03 UTC