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WORLD NEWSThursday 10 September
Battle shaping up in Europe over migrant quotas Greece’s Tsipras
admits mistakes
LORNE COOK scene is set for an ugly con- no sea you would not sail, people have entered Eu- ahead of polling
RAF CASERT frontation when EU interior no border you would not rope this year, including
Associated Press ministers meet Sept. 14. cross.” over 256,000 crossing the DEREK GATOPOULOS
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Eu- “If all the focus is on redis- The Commission’s new plan sea to Greece and nearly ELENA BECATOROS
ropean Union implored its tributing quotas of refugees involves sharing 120,000 120,000 braving the Medi- Associated Press
member countries Wednes- around Europe, that won’t refugees from Greece, Ita- terranean to reach Italy. ATHENS, Greece (AP) —
day to better share the bur- solve the problem, and it ly and Hungary among 22 Hungary estimates that Greece’s left wing leader
den of refugees flooding actually sends a message member states, on top of more than 160,000 have Alexis Tsipras admitted
the continent, but the num- making mistakes in nego-
bers involved were small Parliament members display posters while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tiations for a massive new
compared with the half- delivers his State of the Union address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, bailout agreement, dur-
million who have already Wednesday, Sept.9, 2015. Juncker called on EU countries to agree by next week to share 160,000 ing a televised election
arrived and the hundreds refugees, warning that Greece, Italy and Hungary can no longer cope alone. debate late Wednesday,
of thousands more on their but insisted the deal would
way. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz) safeguard the country’s fi-
With Syrians, Eritreans and nancial future.
Afghans often hoping to that it is a good idea to a proposal the EU’s execu- crossed its borders alone The 41-year-old Tsipras is
settle in wealthy nations get on a boat and make tive made in May to share this year. seeking re-election in the
like Germany and Sweden, that perilous journey,” Brit- 40,000 refugees from just The U.N. refugee agen- snap Sept. 20 poll, called
theEU is struggling find a ish Prime Minister David Greece and Italy. cy warned Tuesday that after the 86 billion-euro
more equitable solution Cameron told lawmakers Britain, Ireland and Den- 42,000 could arrive there in ($96 billion) rescue deal
that would also send a fair in London. In the European mark are not legally bound the next 10 days. reached in July split his
share of refugees to less- Parliament in Strasbourg, to take part. Greece, Italy German Chancellor Ange- Syriza party over the harsh
desirable and less-welcom- France, Juncker said that and Hungary are too over- la Merkel backed the new austerity measures de-
ing places such as Slovakia now is the time for action whelmed to participate. immigration plan and also manded in return.
and the Baltics. because “the refugee cri- Despite the urgency, the called for it to be made “There were mistakes and
Hours after EU Commission sis will not simply go away.” EU’s first refugee plan nev- compulsory. exaggerations,
President Jean-Claude He underlined that 500,000 er won full support, and “We need a binding agree- but they were corrected at
Juncker said Europe had migrants have entered Eu- only about 32,000 refugees ment on a binding distribu- the critical moment,” said
a historic duty to act and rope this year, many from have been allocated. Hun- tion of refugees among all Tsipras, who spent much of
relocate 160,000 who have Syria and Libya. gary was among the coun- member states, according the debate on the defen-
arrived in overwhelmed “Imagine for a second it tries to reject it, along with to fair criteria,” Merkel said sive.
Hungary, Greece and Italy, were you, your child in your the Czech Republic, Slova- in Berlin. Germany has tak- “We did not surrender.
a number of Eastern Eu- arms, the world you knew kia and Poland. en in more than any oth- We reached a pain-
ropean and Baltic states torn apart around you,” According to the Interna- er EU country and would ful compromise that has
vowed to reject the impo- Juncker said. “There is no tional Organization for Mi- have to accept over 31,000 many positive elements for
sition of any kind of quotas wall you would not climb, gration, more than 378,000 more under the plan.q the Greek people.”
from Brussels. Greece is expected to sink
The plan is a drop in the back into recession this
ocean for an economic year after briefly emerging
power like the EU, where from a six-year contrac-
a half-billion people live, tion.
compared with efforts by
Turkey, Lebanon and Jor- The prospect of contin-
dan, which are hosting ued hardship and the split
more than 4 million refu- in Syriza has seen Tsipras
gees, mostly from Syria. lose a huge lead in opinion
But despite the troubling polls that now put him in a
scenes of drowned children dead heat with rival con-
on beaches, or thousands servatives.
of people running at razor- Smaller parties have also
wire fences or crammed gained support, meaning
into buses and trains, the the winner of this month’s
28 nations simply cannot election would likely re-
agree on modest propos- quire the backing of at
als, let alone profound least two coalition part-
ways to tackle Europe’s ners.
biggest refugee emergen- But one possible Tsipras
cy since World War II. ally, Socialist leader Fofi
With battle lines drawn, the Gennimata,
criticized the government’s
Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine discuss peace deal seven-month record in of-
fice during the live debate.
MOSCOW (AP) — The President Vladimir Putin local elections, offering a and the rebel territories. “If there was a Golden
Kremlin says leaders of Rus- conferred Wednesday with special status for the rebel The Kremlin said foreign Raspberry award for the
sia, Germany, France and German Chancellor Ange- regions and other issues re- ministers of the four nations economy,
Ukraine have had a confer- la Merkel, French President lated to February’s peace will continue discussions in Mr. Tsipras would definitely
ence call to discuss the im- Francois Hollande and deal. It said Putin particular- Berlin this weekend, and be the winner,” she said.
plementation of a peace Ukrainian President Petro ly emphasized the need for the four heads of states are “He turned surpluses into
deal for eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko about the pull- a direct dialogue between set to meet in Paris on Oct. deficits, emptied out wel-
The Kremlin said Russian out of weapons, holding the Ukrainian government 2.q fare funds, and took us to
the brink of euro exit and
catastrophe.” q
