Europe realized too late that the tragedies of the Middle East and Africa, would have consequences for it, French President Francois Hollande acknowledged in an intervention along the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the headquarters of the Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Hollande called for solidarity to the situation of these people, victims of the convulse situation in the aforementioned regions.
He noted the need to extend solidarity with the European states facing the pressure on their borders, and with the neighboring countries taking in refugees in large numbers.
Not enough help has been given in the so-called old continent to nations that must accommodate large numbers of refugees, and we have had to act urgently to be worthy of the tradition of asylum, and organize the return of those who cannot be accommodated in a lasting way, he said.
The French President urged the European Union (EU) to act to prevent an all-out war in Syria that could destabilize the entire Middle East region and even end up arriving in Europe.
He insisted on press for a political transition in Syria, while pronouncing himself for the partnership between the EU, Russia, Iran, the Persian Gulf countries and the United States to achieve it.
Merkel noted that the current rules in the Union, requiring asylum seekers to file their claim in the first country they arrive in the block are obsolete.
Therefore, she expressed herself in favor of 'a new procedure' to hand asylum seekers 'with equity' among European countries.
Meanwhile, the EU naval mission against the traffic of migrants began on Wednesday its second phase, aimed at stopping boats, register them, seize them and arrest traffickers, according to EU sources.
A recent report by the International Organization for Migration showed that this year almost three thousand people died in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe, a figure that confirms this sea as the most deadly route among the migratory streams in the world.
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