sábado, 5 de março de 2016

Refugee crisis and Syria: Hollande and Merkel harmonize positions in Paris and hear Putin

By Admin 13:00

Merkel arrived Friday morning in Paris, shortly after 10:00, to a meeting with Francois Hollande, at the Elysée, which included a working lunch. The "dish" of the meeting was the migrant and refugee crisis that continues to deteriorate and has, in particular, the war in Syria as point of origin.

The President of France and Germany's Chancellor seek to harmonize the respective positions within a few days of an important summit between the leaders of the European Union and Turkey to adjust the implementation of the agreement to control the flow of migrants and refugees on their way to Europe.

President fhollande receives A.Merkel to prepare the meeting of the heads of State and govt of the EU and Turkey<a href="https://t.co/N9URjBoy4D">https://t .co/N9URjBoy4D</a><p>-Elysée (Elysée) 4 de março de 2016

Before lunch, Hollande and Merkel spoke on the phone with the President of Russia on the situation in Syria, where it remains for about a week a fragile cease-fire. They also took part in this conference call the Italian and British Prime Ministers, respectively, Matteo Renzi, and David Cameron.

In a joint statement to reporters, before lunch, the French President revealed that the Quartet of European leaders reaffirmed "the President of Russia the opportunity to give this cease-fire in order to speed up the talks and open up the process of political transition in Syria". "The voice of Vladimir Putin, Russia has shown willingness to enforce the ceasefire in Syria and accepts this principle for the negotiations on the basis of United Nations reso lutions," said Hollande, who in April elections is no more than "a provocative idea and unrealistic" of President Bashar al-Assad.

The president fhollande & Angela Merkel have called together <a href="https://twitter.com/David_Cameron">David_Cameron, matteorenzi</a> & Vladimir Poutine <a href="https://t.co/QiKKthifsk">pic.twitter.com/QiKKthifsk</a><p>-Elysée (Elysée) 4 de março de 2016

Merkel, in turn, assured the Union of Germany and France in the defence of the Schengen Agreement, which has been called into question and even suspended due to uncontrolled flows of migrants in transit in the South-East of the European Union.

"We are completely in agreement on the need to protect the external borders of the European Union. The borders must be protected to be ensured free movement within Europe and so we can gradually move away from the present control of internal borders ", defended the Chancellor, stressing the important role of Greece in this protection of European boundaries, but also of Turkey.

The Chancellor expects Turkey to facilitate the readmission of migrants because, he stressed, has an interest "in not receiving more refugees and a solution" to the conflict, but also to end the illegal crossing of the Aegean Sea. "There is a common interest, Turkish and European, in ending lawlessness", reinforced, in order to put an end to the deaths at sea of people trying to reach clandestinely to Europe by Greece.

First projects under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey announced: https://t.co/yIwHYp6zAY | #MigrationEU pic.twitter.com/OScTZtkXLZ

Hollande, for its part, argues that "the Syrian refugees should be accommodated as close as possible to the country". The French leader also revealed having authorised the sending of a boat to help NATO's mission to monitor the maritime border between Greece and Turkey.

The crisis of migrants and refugees is the centerpiece of the Summit scheduled for Monday between the European Union and Turkey. The implementation of the plan agreed with Ankara is the priority. Objective: to stem the flow of migrants and to combat illegal migration facilitation networks.

Back to #Schengen: our proposed Roadmap for restoring fully functioning Schengen system: https://t.co/rbdc0SxJcV #MigrationEU

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