Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Cost of Migration Crisis Means Nothing to Us, Says Top EU Official

EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris
Avramopoulos during a joint news conference on the current
migration and refugee[s] crisis in Europe, in Brussels
THE TELEGRAPH: Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU official in charge of migration, says political backlash over migration 'means nothing' as he is not elected

The EU’s leaders “do not care about the political cost" of their handling of the migration crisis because they do not have to face election, one of its top officials has admitted.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the commissioner for migration whose controversial plan to relocate 120,000 refugees badly split the EU last week, said national leaders should “stop thinking about” the backlash they face over migration.

The relocation policy is deeply unpopular in eastern Europe, but without the threat of re-election this “means nothing”, Mr Avramopoulos said. The remarks were met with anger by British eurosceptics. » | Matthew Holehouse, Brussels | Monday, September 28, 2015