These European countries want a fairer distribution of refugees

The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy have called for a “fairer distribution” of refugees among EU member nations.

A joint statement said:

The current refugee crisis is putting the European Union and all of its member states to a historic test. Over the past weeks, this crisis has become even more dramatic.

Europe must protect refugees in need of protection in a humane way – regardless of which EU country they arrive in.

The three countries wish for the policies to be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 4-5 September.

David Cameron said:

We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world.

I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.

Meanwhile the Italian minister for Europe, Sandro Gozi, toldd BBC 4 Radio:

The UK has a special status, but if you have a special status you cannot seek to shape policy in which you don’t want to participate.

The EU accepted 184,665 asylum applications in 2014.

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