EU president calls for bold action on refugee crisis

STRASBOURG, France (AA) - EU President Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday urged Europe to take "bold, determined" action to tackle the refugee crisis enveloping the continent.

In his first “state of the union” address to the European Parliament, Juncker upbraided EU members for not doing enough for the 500,000 refugees who have come to the EU since the beginning of the year.

He said that “now is not the time to take fright” but rather “time for bold, determined and concerted action."

Juncker added: “This is first of all a matter of humanity and of human dignity."

He used the speech to call on the 28 member states to agree to relocate 160,000 refugees when ministers meet on Sept. 14.

“We now need immediate action,” he said. “We cannot leave Italy, Greece and Hungary to fare alone. Just as we would not leave any other EU member state alone. For if it is Syria and Libya people are fleeing from today, it could just as easily be Ukraine tomorrow."

“Europe has made the mistake in the past of distinguishing between Jews, Christians, Muslims. There is no religion, no belief, no philosophy when it comes to refugees.”

Pointing out that the “unprecedented” number of refugees coming to Europe still only represented 0.11 percent of the EU population, he added: “Let us also be clear and honest with our often worried citizens: as long as there is war in Syria and terror in Libya, the refugee crisis will not simply go away.”

The 22,000 refugees the EU has committed to resettling from outside Europe over the next year was modest in comparison to the “Herculean efforts” of Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, who are hosting more than 4 million Syrian refugees, the president said.

According to the UN, there are 1.9 million Syrian refugees registered in neighboring Turkey alone and the country has spent $5.6 billion on Syrian refugees since April 2011.

Juncker also called for a fundamental change to the asylum application process including a relocation process that would allow the EU to swiftly deal with future crises.

He also raised the prospect of stronger joint action to secure the union’s external borders through a fully operational European border and coast guard system.

Noting that the international community had failed the Syrian people, Juncker demanded a “European diplomatic offensive” to address the crises in Syria and in Libya.

To tackle potential problems, he announced a 1.8 billion euro fund to create lasting stability in Africa to counter the causes of forced displacement and migration.

“The crisis is stark and the journey is still long,” he said. “I am counting on you, on this house, and on all member states to show European courage going forward, in line with our common values and our history.”

Referring to the financial crisis in Greece, he said the EU had a duty to “do everything possible to preserve the integrity of the euro area” and called for the timely delivery of Greek reforms.

“The crisis is not over,” he told EU lawmakers. “It has just been put on pause.”

On Britain, which is to hold a referendum on its continued membership of the EU by 2017, Juncker said he wanted a “fair deal” for both Britain and other member states.

He called for the EU to show a united front over the conflict in Ukraine and “show Russia the cost of confrontation” while being prepared to engage in dialogue.

Turning to climate change, Juncker said a meeting in Paris in three months would see Europe call for an “ambitious, robust and binding global climate deal.” The meeting is to agree on action to keep the global temperature rise below 2C.