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The European Union has agreed to expand the powers of its border security agency Frontex so it can speed up the deportations of people whose asylum claims are rejected.
E.U. member states say they're considering joint rules for detaining people whose asylum claims are rejected to prevent them from fleeing before they're deported.
Last year, deportations were carried out for about 40 percent of the more than half a million people designated as illegal migrants by the E.U.
To boost that number, the bloc announced it will increase the powers of its border protection agency Frontex.
On Friday the first flight carrying Eritrean refugees from Italy to Sweden will mark the start of the E.U.'s resettlement program.
They originally landed on the island of Lampedusa, which has become the first so-called hot spot where asylum seekers are processed and registered in an E.U. wide database.
More than half a million asylum seekers have entered the European Union so far this year and E.U. officials estimate that millions more remain determined to make the journey.
That's why Thursday's gathering was also attended by E.U. foreign ministers and officials from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, which together shelter about four million Syrian refugees.
Few details were given on how that process might work.
The blueprint is expected at an E.U. foreign affairs meeting on Monday.
中国公共新闻网摘编：GAN JADE |
