AFP, Luxembourg :
France and Germany agreed Thursday to accept some 21,000 asylum-seekers and refugees as part of EU efforts to deal with the flood of migrants seeking refuge from conflicts across North Africa and the Middle East.
EU leaders agreed last month to take in 60,000 people over the next two years but on a voluntary basis after many member states objected strongly to proposed mandatory quotas.
The figures comprise 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum-seekers already in Europe who will be redistributed across the 28-nation bloc plus another 20,000 Syrians in camps overseas.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and his German counterpart Thomas De Maiziere announced that France would take 9,100 and Germany 12,100.
The two countries had a duty “to offer a dignified welcome to those with refugee status,” Cazeneuve said.
At the same time, the countries had set conditions to ensure “that what we are doing out of solidarity (with other EU states) will be sustainable.”
He said it was essential that reception points for migrants be beefed up to ensure that genuine asylum seekers are clearly separated out from economic migrants who will be returned home.
France and Germany agreed Thursday to accept some 21,000 asylum-seekers and refugees as part of EU efforts to deal with the flood of migrants seeking refuge from conflicts across North Africa and the Middle East.
EU leaders agreed last month to take in 60,000 people over the next two years but on a voluntary basis after many member states objected strongly to proposed mandatory quotas.
The figures comprise 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum-seekers already in Europe who will be redistributed across the 28-nation bloc plus another 20,000 Syrians in camps overseas.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and his German counterpart Thomas De Maiziere announced that France would take 9,100 and Germany 12,100.
The two countries had a duty “to offer a dignified welcome to those with refugee status,” Cazeneuve said.
At the same time, the countries had set conditions to ensure “that what we are doing out of solidarity (with other EU states) will be sustainable.”
He said it was essential that reception points for migrants be beefed up to ensure that genuine asylum seekers are clearly separated out from economic migrants who will be returned home.
