Juncker Says EU, Non-EU Leaders Agreed on Measures to Tackle Refugee Crisis

The leaders of both EU members and non-EU states participating in a meeting on migrants’ issue agreed to adopt a plan to cope with the crisis, according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the leaders of both EU members and non-EU states participating in a meeting on migrants’ issue agreed to adopt a 17-point plan to cope with the crisis.

On Sunday, the leaders of 11 European countries, as well as EU agencies met in Brussels to find common operational resolutions for Western Balkans migration flows that can be immediately implemented.

“I am therefore pleased that today we were able to jointly agree on a 17-point plan of pragmatic and operational measures to ensure people are not left to fend for themselves in the rain and cold,” Juncker said Sunday.

The European Union is currently managing a massive refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people flee conflict-torn regions seeking asylum within the bloc. The majority of them move through the Western Balkans to the wealthier northern EU states.

According to EU border agency Frontex, over 710,000 refugees have arrived in the European Union since the beginning of 2015.