Thousands of refugees in exodus towards Europe

Germany took in 218,000 in the first seven months and, amid last week’s scenes of migrants heading westward on foot from Budapest’s jammed train station, expects as many as 800,000 for the full year.

Mr Juncker stressed that under the proposal, which will offer a “swift, determined and comprehensive” response to the unprecedented crisis facing the European Union, 120,000 additional asylum seekers will be distributed among EU nations, with binding quotas.

The president admits that Europe is not generally overwhelmed, and that the overall number of refugees that Europe is taking in is “modest” compared to that of Syria’s neighbors. “We have to address all these issues”.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the “breathtaking” flow of migrants into Germany would change the country in the coming years.

But he said more attention had to be paid to refugees still in the region around Syria.

The development came after a surge of thousands of mainly Syrian migrants pushed north through Europe in recent days. Some 22,500 refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos have been registered by officials since Monday evening, according to police, many of them Syrian refugees setting sail from Turkey.

“We must be mad to take this risk with the cohesion of our societies”, he said.

“We are not talking about 40,000”, Juncker said.

“There is no limit to the amount of people that could come in the first year, let’s get on with it”.

Hungarian police, however, rejecting allegations that they mistreat the refugees.

Previous EU attempts to craft a coherent approach to the crisis have sputtered amid competing national interests and insistence by some countries that accepting refugees should be voluntary.

“This is something to be proud of, and not something to fear,” he said. Solidarity must be anchored in our rules.

“The relocation scheme can only succeed if it is accompanied by large-scale emergency reception, assistance and registration efforts in the countries most impacted by arrivals, particularly Greece, Hungary and Italy“, said spokesman William Spindler, adding that 200,000 places would be needed by the end of 2016.

Neighbouring Austria meanwhile witnessed a new spike in numbers crossing from Hungary, with more than 3,000 people entering overnight.

“This has to be done in a compulsory way”.

“The list of safe countries is only a procedural simplification”, Juncker explained. “The member states must reexamine their integration policies and allow asylum seekers to work”, Juncker said. The numbers of migrants streaming through the Balkans into Hungary on Thursday was the highest yet recorded, many braving police truncheons and torrential rain in their desperate attempt to reach Western Europe.

The proposals promise to be ambitious enough to show that Europe is finally getting to grips with a vast and multifaceted crisis, but nuanced enough that they will command the political support of member states. “It is time to look at what is on the table and move swiftly forward”.

Denmark, due to its opt-out on EU Justice and Home Affairs, is not oblidged to take part in the distribution plan.