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Refugee crisis in Europe

UN high commissioner urges Europe’s ‘cooperative approach’ to migration situation

Filippo Grandi did not rule out that the migration situation may deteriorate if Europe fails to take joint action

© AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The situation in Europe can change for the better only if Europe takes a cooperative approach to the policy of receiving and accommodating migrants, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday.

"It the migration situation in Europe] can only be changed being organized better for people that come if Europe adapts a cooperative approach, meaning all of Europe agrees on how to receive people, how to register them, how to determine, who is a refugee and can stay, and who is not a refugee and should return to his country, on how the refugees get distributed across Europe," the high commissioner for refugees said.

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"Not just to Greece or Italy, or not just to Germany or Sweden, but distributed across. To do all this, you need cooperation, and we are not seeing much cooperation, unfortunately," he added.

Filippo Grandi did not rule out that the migration situation may deteriorate if Europe fails to take joint action.

"Unless Europe adopts this cooperative approach, if there are in the future more large movements, they’ll have a problem. If you ask me, wherever I think it will happen, this cooperative approach, I don’t know," he marked.

"Many politicians, that I would not consider responsible ones, have exploited this issue. Many people in Europe are worried about salaries, about jobs, about security, about values, identity/ And some politicians are telling them: you see all these foreigners, they’re going to take your job, put bombs and want everybody to be of their religion, or something like that," Filippo Grandi added.

"This is the propaganda. And people, that are worried about these things… they listen, they vote these people into governments and then these are the people, that close and push back refugees," the high commissioner said.

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Migration Refugee crisis

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