The EU finally plan to accept an extra 120,000 refugee

At last, some improvements and some decisions in Europe.



Guardian Live updates:
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Refugee crisis: EU quota plan to accept an extra 120,000 people

• France and Germany to take 55,000 extra refugees under quotas
• 10,000 more refugees expected in Munich on Monday
• UK to use aid budget to house thousands more Syrian refugees
• UN agencies ‘broke’ due to scale of the crisis

France and Germany reported to take extra 55,000 refugees

France and Germany are reported to be prepared to take an extra 55,000 refugees over the next two years, according to reports in the French press.

The European Commission has asked France to accept 24,000 refugees and Germany 31,000 refugees under a new plan, according to the English language French news site The Local.

EU quota plan to accept an extra 120,000 people

More details are emerging about the EU’s quota plan.

The EU executive has drawn up a new set of national quotas under which Germany will take in more than 40,000 and France 30,000 of a total of 160,000 asylum-seekers it says should be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary, an EU source told Reuters.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is due to unveil new proposals on Wednesday. EU officials have said he will propose adding 120,000 people to be relocated on top of a group of 40,000 the Commission previously proposed relocating.

Germany would, if EU leaders agree to the scheme, be asked to take in 31,443 and France 24,031. Earlier on Monday, French President Francois Hollande said France would take 24,000 of the additional 120,000 people seeking refuge.

Confirming figures published by Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, the source said the Commission also planned to put Turkey and all the non-EU states of the Western Balkans on a new list of “safe” countries, whose citizens would face accelerated reviews of asylum claims to speed deportation for most of them.

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And meanwhile in Bristol:

City of Sanctuary: Bristol rallies to help refugees as aid network swells

Organisation says 200 new people a day offering help as charities help refugees such as Ashraf, 17, who walked for eight months to reach UK with his brother

The Bristol Refugee Rights welcome centre inside the Malcolm X community centre in St Pauls, Bristol, is buzzing with activity beneath the imposing mural of the radical civil rights activist. A group of young men play a raucous game of pool; others are huddled around a game of Scrabble. In one corner, volunteers provide aid and advocacy, while a couple of helpful Bristolians run a “free shop”, kitting people out in donated clothes and shoes.

The welcome centre is part of the City of Sanctuary network, a growing network of local organisations trying to establish a welcoming culture for refugees fleeing war and persecution.

In recent weeks, as news bulletins have been dominated by heartbreaking images and stories of desperate people seeking safety in Europe, the number of people looking to volunteer has shot through the roof, said Forward Maisokwadzo, a development worker in Bristol.

More here: 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/06/city-of-sanctuary-bristol-rallies-to-help-refugees-as-aid-network-swells?CMP=twt_a-global-development_b-gdndevelopment