Luxembourg, June 8, (dpa/GNA) – European Union interior ministers, backed plans to tighten the bloc’s asylum policies, the Swedish EU Presidency tweeted on Thursday at a meeting in Luxembourg.
The plans are “a good balance between responsibility and solidarity,” the Swedish EU Presidency said.
Following hours of negotiations, a majority of the bloc’s interior ministers agreed to the proposed reforms despite criticism from Austria, the Netherlands and Italy that the proposed reforms do not go far enough.
EU ministers were examining draft plans to detain asylum seekers at the bloc’s external borders, while processing applications.
Also debated was the establishment of a mandatory system to distribute an agreed amount of asylum seekers among EU member states. EU countries unwilling or unable to accept relocated migrants, would give help in the form of financial support instead.
GNA