He expects “immediate clarification and certainty that the Commission will also represent the opinion of the member states,” said Nehammer in a written statement on Thursday. Because at the meeting of the EU interior ministers on Wednesday it was “very clear the tenor” that 2015 must not be allowed to happen again, and that is why we have to be clear in the message that we as the European community of states are sending that we are protecting and want to provide help locally in the region and that has top priority “.
Johansson had urged the creation of legal and safe escape routes from Afghanistan to Europe. “The situation in Afghanistan is clearly unsafe and will not be for some time,” she said at the ministerial meeting, according to a statement released on Wednesday. She also stressed the importance of continuing to support other countries – especially those in the neighborhood of Afghanistan – in taking in refugees. According to Johanssons, 80 percent of those forced to flee are women and children.
Greens for official escape routes
The European spokesman for the Greens, Michel Reimon, welcomed Johansson’s statement that legal and safe escape routes are urgently needed for people in Afghanistan who are particularly threatened by the Taliban. “2015 must not be repeated, Europe must not be as badly prepared for a possible refugee movement as the governments of the time, and must deal with it professionally,” said Reimon in a broadcast. He insists on a “coordinated European solution for our dealings with Afghanistan”.
