Refugees from Syria walk in the port of Mytilini, Lesvos (Lesbos) island, Greece, on 10 November 2015. Europe is dealing with its greatest influx of migrants and asylum seekers since World War II . Photo EPA/BGNES
The European Parliament has called on member states to deliver on their pledges and pay for the EU migration actions that have been agreed by EU leaders.
In a debate held late on Wednesday, MEPs proposed to use an unexpected windfall of EUR 2.3 B from EU fines and customs duties to finance some of the actions. The European Commission said earlier that the new trust funds set up for Syria and Africa were short of EUR 2.22 B in national contributions.
In the plenary debate with Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva and Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg's labour minister representing the Council presidency, most MEPs said that EU member states must feed the trust funds set up to deal with the root causes of migration, the EP said in a news release.
Jos? Manuel Fernandes, chief rapporteur for the 2016 EU budget, commented the sum which member states will receive as extraordinary reimbursements from fines and customs duties is “exactly the same amount that they have to make available to ensure funding of the two funds, without any additional financial effort.”