World Needs to Act Together on Refugees: Tusk
TOKYO (AFP) - The world needs to act together on the refugee crisis gripping Europe, and not leave the continent to battle the problem alone, European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Tusk said European nations needed help in dealing with the tide of people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
"We are aware that it is because of geography that the most responsibility is, and will continue to be, placed on Europe," Tusk told reporters at Ise-Shima, 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
"However we would also like the global community to show solidarity and recognize that this is a global crisis."
Last year, some 1.3 million refugees, coming mostly from the conflict-ridden countries of Syria and Iraq asked for asylum in the European Union -- more than a third of them in Germany.
So far this year, the International Organization for Migration says an estimated 190,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. More than 1,300 are known to have died en route.
The European Union has put in place a program aimed at redistributing a first group of 140,000 people throughout the 28 member states.
"The world has been confronted with the highest number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons since the Second World War," said Tusk.
"Those who criticize Europe should rather think how to increase their assistance because what Europe provides is already massive."
Tusk, who is at the G7 with Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said he would be asking leaders to get behind a worldwide solution.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Tusk said European nations needed help in dealing with the tide of people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
"We are aware that it is because of geography that the most responsibility is, and will continue to be, placed on Europe," Tusk told reporters at Ise-Shima, 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
"However we would also like the global community to show solidarity and recognize that this is a global crisis."
Last year, some 1.3 million refugees, coming mostly from the conflict-ridden countries of Syria and Iraq asked for asylum in the European Union -- more than a third of them in Germany.
So far this year, the International Organization for Migration says an estimated 190,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. More than 1,300 are known to have died en route.
The European Union has put in place a program aimed at redistributing a first group of 140,000 people throughout the 28 member states.
"The world has been confronted with the highest number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons since the Second World War," said Tusk.
"Those who criticize Europe should rather think how to increase their assistance because what Europe provides is already massive."
Tusk, who is at the G7 with Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said he would be asking leaders to get behind a worldwide solution.