EU Interior Ministers to Discuss Migrant Quotas at Extraordinary Meeting

Migrants are guarded by Hungarian police officers to board a train, after they crossed the Croatian-Hungarian green border, at the railway station in Zakany, 230 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, 21 September 2015. Photo: EPA

An extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council of the European Union over the refugee crisis is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Tuesday.

The interior ministers will discuss the proposal of the European Commission for the emergency relocation of 120 000 people from member states exposed to massive migratory flows, namely Italy, Greece and Hungary.

This is in addition to the relocation of 40 000 people in need of international protection from Italy and Greece, which had already been adopted on September 14.

Bulgaria will be represented at the meeting by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova.

The meeting of the JHA ministers will precede the extraordinary, informal meeting of heads of state or government, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

European Council President Donald Tusk convened the EU leaders in order to discuss the overall approach to the refugees crisis and the need to devise a credible European migration policy.

Reaching consensus remains questionable as some member states, above all the countries from the Visegrad Four – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, have reaffirmed their opposition to migrant quotas on Monday.

Meanwhile, Hungary granted its army extra powers to deal with migrants, authorising it to use rubber bullets and tear gas against them, the BBC informs.

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