AFP, London :
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande agreed that a political process in Syria must be revived, a source close to the French president said.
At a meeting at Cameron’s country residence, Chequers, the two leaders “expressed agreement on the need to revitalise the political process” in Syria, according to a source in Hollande’s entourage.
In addition, the two leaders “discussed how a big part of the answer to the refugee crisis must be a solution to the situation in Syria”, a spokesman for Cameron’s office said.
The two agreed that a European Council meeting on Wednesday should focus on “increasing assistance for the countries neighbouring Syria to enable more refugees to stay there” the spokesman added.
The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria — where a brutal conflict has killed more than 240,000 and caused four million to flee — received its first new fighter planes and weapons from ally Russia to fight the Islamic State group on Tuesday.
The French source described as “an important step” Cameron and Hollande’s exchange of views on Syria and Libya, where instability is blamed for exacerbating the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
On Tuesday, European Union countries agreed to accept 120,000 refugees between them despite fierce opposition from central and eastern European countries.
The two had agreed “that EU countries should do more to return migrants who don’t have a genuine claim to asylum to their countries of origin”, according the Cameron spokesman.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande agreed that a political process in Syria must be revived, a source close to the French president said.
At a meeting at Cameron’s country residence, Chequers, the two leaders “expressed agreement on the need to revitalise the political process” in Syria, according to a source in Hollande’s entourage.
In addition, the two leaders “discussed how a big part of the answer to the refugee crisis must be a solution to the situation in Syria”, a spokesman for Cameron’s office said.
The two agreed that a European Council meeting on Wednesday should focus on “increasing assistance for the countries neighbouring Syria to enable more refugees to stay there” the spokesman added.
The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria — where a brutal conflict has killed more than 240,000 and caused four million to flee — received its first new fighter planes and weapons from ally Russia to fight the Islamic State group on Tuesday.
The French source described as “an important step” Cameron and Hollande’s exchange of views on Syria and Libya, where instability is blamed for exacerbating the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
On Tuesday, European Union countries agreed to accept 120,000 refugees between them despite fierce opposition from central and eastern European countries.
The two had agreed “that EU countries should do more to return migrants who don’t have a genuine claim to asylum to their countries of origin”, according the Cameron spokesman.
