European Union leaders vow to stop refugee flows

In response to the recent tragic attacks in Paris and the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters, the European Commission presented on December 15, 2015, its plan aiming at managing the Europe’s migration crisis more effectively by improving the internal security of the European Union and by safeguarding the principle of free movement of persons guaranteed by theSchengen open-borders system.

Juncker told the European Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg that it was no “time for business as usual” as asylum seekers, mostly Syrians fleeing war, have flooded across the European Union’s external border.

The Commissionproposed establishing the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, which will be created from the existing border agencyFrontex and the EU member states’ authorities responsible for border management, who will continue to exercise the day-to-day management of the external border.

A family disembarks from a boat of Frontex, European Border Protection Agency, at the port town of Petra, on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.

With pressure building on nations further north preferred migrant destinations like Germany or Sweden the EU’s executive arm has floated the border and coast guard plane to force Greece to act.

“In this context, we agreed to rapidly examine the European Commission’s proposal of strengthening the EU’s external borders, including the European Border Guard idea”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also underlined that she “very strongly supports” the plan. “Ministers should adopt their position by July, but the leaders’ broad acceptance means that in the future Europe will not remain vulnerable because the Schengen border is insufficiently protected”, Tusk said.

But he warned that any failure of this new border and coast guard agency project might only lead to “another, but I am afraid, equally painful solution”.

But the plan touches at the very heart of national identity a country’s right to decide what kinds of forces can be allowed on its territory and Greece, Italy, Croatia and Hungary are likely to oppose it.

The proposal is just the start of a potentially long and divisive legislative process.

More than 900,000 people have arrived in Europe this year, prompting some states to build fences and introduce border controls in defiance of the EU’s border-free Schengen area.

Many of those feeling conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa have arrived via the Greek islands, via Turkey, and they are still pouring into Greece in their thousands daily. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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