EU migration chief urges support for disembarkation plan

BRUSSELS-The Associated Press

The European Union’s top migration official is urging EU member states to back a temporary plan to quickly get migrants off boats in the Mediterranean Sea and distribute them among willing countries.

EU Migration Commissioner Dmitris Avramopoulos says a meeting in Luxembourg on Oct. 8 of the bloc’s interior ministers is “a moment for all member states to show more solidarity and more responsibility.”

But Avramopoulos says the EU “cannot only try to find ad-hoc solutions. We need permanent mechanisms.”

Germany, France, Italy and Malta are seeking approval for a “fast-track” process to screen migrants, relocate asylum-seekers and return people who do not apply or qualify, all within four weeks.

The system would work based on “pre-declared pledges” countries would make to accept asylum-seekers and involve “streamlining procedures” currently in place.