EU leaders reach consensus on refugee crisis in Europe

PanARMENIAN.Net - European Union leaders, faced with a staggering migration crisis and deep divisions over how to tackle it, managed to agree early Thursday, September 24 to boost border controls to ease the influx and to send 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to international agencies helping refugees at camps near their home countries, the Associated Press reports.

The leaders also said that task forces of European experts sent to help register and screen migrants in so-called hotspots must be fully operational in Greece and Italy, and perhaps also Bulgaria, by November.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said European leaders, who have disagreed acrimoniously with one another over how best to tackle the flow of people into the continent, finally appeared to reach agreement.

"Tonight we have a common understanding that we cannot continue like we did before," he said, adding that the crisis will only deepen," he said.

The leaders also pledged to boost support to Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan to help them cope with the millions fleeing the fighting in Syria.

The EU summit called for a "renewed UN-led international effort" to end the war in Syria, which it said has driven an estimated 12 million people from their homes. "The EU commits to doing its part in this respect," the leaders said, according to the AP.

To broker peace in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "you have to talk to a lot of actors, and that includes (President Bashar) Assad."