A total of eight European Union countries have called on Tuesday in a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to introduce tougher migration measures.
The eight countries, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Slovakia, Malta, Estonia and Lithuania, have asked to increase the pressure on the migratory flow and to introduce new protection measures at the external borders, as well as to speed up deportations and to reach new repatriation agreements with non-EU countries.
The letter, which comes just days before the next summit of the bloc, scheduled for Thursday, indicates that «the current asylum system is broken and mainly benefits human traffickers who profit from the misfortune of men, women and children».
They have also expressed that some of these countries, such as Austria, have experienced an equal or increasing number of new arrivals and asylum applications than during the strong migratory wave of 2015.
Local authorities are «facing difficulties in dealing with this influx,» a «very worrying situation that deserves concrete measures.» «The objective is to give priority to people in need of international protection, such as refugees coming from Ukraine,» they have concluded.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
