The High-level Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean – Western Balkans Route, focused on the important increase in the number of migrants coming from the Middle East through the Western Balkans route, was held on 8 October 2015 in Luxembourg. The aim of the Conference was to enhance engagement among all partners, increasing solidarity and ensuring an orderly management of refugee and migration flows.
The Conference was attended by EU ministers for home affairs and ministers for foreign affairs, and their counterparts from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the Western Balkans, as well as the representatives of the associated countries, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein. The situation on the ground was presented by representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the International Organisation for Migration, the World Food Programme, and EU agencies Frontex and European Asylum Support Office (EASO)
The Conference was chaired by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini and Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs/Minister of Immigration and Asylum of Luxembourg, on behalf of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU. Apart from HR/VP Mogherini, the Commission was represented by Commissioners Johannes Hahn for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations; Dimitris Avramopoulos for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and Christos Stylianides for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.
Read the full text of declaration here.
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