Migrant crisis: Division within EU states exposed
As leaders of the European Union (EU) discuss the relocation of about 120,000 migrants in an emergency meeting in Brussels, it appears the EU isn't united after all.
Reports state that splits within the EU are getting more evident now that the crisis has gotten worse than in the past months.
According to multiple outlets, some of the members of the EU are suggesting that several other states are not showing a sense of "solidarity" and are refusing to share the burden, leaving the open states heavily burdened with handling the arrival of migrants.
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Slovakia has just started the battle within the EU as it is reported to launch a legal challenge against mandatory quotas that were approved in a majority vote on Tuesday.
Hungary, on the other hand, has proposed an extreme budgetary revamp that looks to raise the funds needed for the transfer of migrants, as well as other necessities.
According to reports given out by the EU, the meetings will focus on tightening the borders and helping Syria's neighboring countries to somehow balance the influx of migrants moving out of their country.
The agenda during the Brussels meeting, as seen by the BBC, include: the suggestion to donate at least €1 billion (£700 million, $1.1 billion) to U.N. aid groups that help Syrian refugees, the sending of additional staff to check on Europe's external borders and the western Balkans where hundreds of migrants pass through, and the commendation to give additional support to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and other Syrian neighbors.
Meanwhile, the council's President Donald Tusk urged that the EU come up with a "concrete plan" to secure the external borders in a bid to lessen the "arguments and the chaos we have witnessed in the past weeks."
Addressing the issue about several EU states disagreeing with the council's decisions, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said it was "not a lack of European unity, but a lack of European wisdom," that led to the crisis and chaos.
