EU leaders approve voluntary plan to resettle migrants

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/eu-leaders-approve-voluntary-plan-to-resettle-migrants/a-18542081

European leaders have agreed on a voluntary scheme to share refugees after a heated debate on the Mediterranean migrant crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for more solidarity among member states.

EU leaders approve voluntary plan to resettle migrants
26.06.2015

After seven hours of debate over the thorny issue of where migrants to the EU should live, the European Union leaders finally agreed Friday morning on a voluntary scheme that would see EU's member states taking in migrants who cross into the bloc on the Mediterranean Sea.

While agreeing to the resettlement plan in principle, leaders were not able to work out many details for the new process.

People fleeing war and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East are seeking refuge in European countries with most of the people turning up on the shores of Italy and Greece or being rescued at sea. Some 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum seekers are currently camped in Italy and Greece, whereas another 20,000 are outside the EU.

A record number of 60 million people fled their homes in the conflict zones last year, according to the United Nations. At least half of them are children. Some 80,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year.