The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, criticized the European Union’s reluctance to take in significant numbers of refugees fleeing Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
“We have seen countries outside the EU come forward to welcome Afghan asylum seekers, but we have not seen a single member state do the same,” Sassoli said at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.
The Italian center-left politician said that the EU legislature was “very disappointed” at the outcome of talks among the bloc’s interior ministers on Tuesday.
At that meeting, the EU made no concrete commitment to take in asylum seekers but instead vowed in a joint statement to “prevent the recurrence of uncontrolled large-scale illegal migration” by providing regional aid and tightly policing borders.
The European Parliament has very little clout when it comes to foreign affairs and migration policy, both of which are mainly decided by EU capitals.
Sassoli’s address, provided in written format by the EU legislature, was made at an event attended by Slovenian President Janez Jansa, who has vocally opposed taking in large numbers of Afghan refugees.
