Migrants: EU 'must take responsibility'

(ANSA) - Brussels, January 29 - All European member states must take responsibility for relocating migrants from Greece and Italy, EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said Friday.
    "The decision to relocate 160,000 refugees is a binding one," Avramopoulos told ANSA. "It is time that member states take responsibility and do what they have committed to do.
    "Offers to relocate refugees must drastically increase, and member states must send staff in addition to those from Frontex.
    "It's not a problem just for the Greeks or for the Italians it's a responsibility that must be shared by everyone in Europe." The commissioner highlighted the need to ensure that migrants whose applications have been refused are repatriated. He also discussed possible reforms to the Dublin Regulation - under which responsibility for asylum seekers lies with the country in which they first arrive - to be examined in March. The reforms will aim "to ensure a more equal distribution system among countries; a real system of shared responsibility", he said.