EU Commission chief against calls for new migration summit: ‘Time to act’

Jean-Claude Juncker says member states should start adopting European measures on migration

The European Union doesn’t need another summit on irregular migration but member states that step up their work and adopt European measures already in place, according to the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker.

A fresh report by the European Union’s border agency Frontex found that the number of irregular crossings into the EU topped 100,000 in July 2015, the first time this many people have sought to enter in a single month since Frontex began keeping records in 2008.

Amnesty International said the report showed yet again the unprecedented scale of the refugee crisis and drives home the urgent need for safe and legal routes to the EU for desperate people to seek protection.

On Saturday, at least seven rescue boats were involved in an operation to get 3,000 migrants safely off 14 rubber dinghies and four other vessels.

But writing in Frace’s Le Figaro, Juncker dismissed calls for a new EU summit on immigration; France’s Francois Hollande is travelling to Berlin today to hold key talks on the EU migrant crisis with Angela Merkel.

An EU summit on migration, bringing together key EU states and North African countries will be held in Malta in November.

Juncker repeated his criticism of European governments failing to take migrants from Italy and Greece, where tens of thousands arrived by boat to escape poverty and war.

"We don't need a new summit. Member states have to adopt the European measures and apply them to their territory," he wrote.

Juncker added that the European Union should draw up a uniform list of "safe countries" to which migrants could be returned.