BRUSSELS, March 9 (Xinhua) -- After assuming the office for 100 days, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that the European Union (EU) is in a deep dilemma.
"Today we are in the middle of a deep dilemma," von der Leyen addressed the audience in Brussels in her speech marking the 100 days.
"When I started 100 days ago, there were many many different questions and many difficult issues on the agenda, but the EU-Turkey statement was not under question," she recalled.
The head of the EU's administrative arm referred to the ongoing acute situation at the Greek-Turkey border where thousands of attempts by migrants to enter the EU were prevented, whereas an increasing number of asylum seekers were seen arriving at the Greek islands by boat.
She noted that the refugee camps on the Greek islands were already beyond the limit, causing humanitarian crisis, especially for the unattended minors. Pointing out the lack of consensus within the 27-member bloc as of how to resettle the refugees, von der Leyen said member states including France, Portugal, Luxembourg, Finland and Germany had offered help in taking in those minors.
Another acute situation is the front-line within the European continent to fight against the COVID-19 outbreaks. The novel coronavirus has claimed the life of more than 400 patients out of the over 10,000 confirmed cases across Europe. Italy remains the hardest-hit country with over 7,900 infections and 463 deaths.
Von der Leyen said her colleague was closely following the developments in Italy, where the government announced a nation-wide lockdown later on Monday.
She claimed that there was a strong coordination ongoing with the leaders of Europe, and with European institutions like the ECB or the Eurogroup to jointly address the impacts on the economy and the society.
Von der Leyen admitted that there's a disagreement on working out the next long term EU budget.
"In the difficult times, we all sense that people in member states asking for more euro ... Yet without a new budget, we will not be able to respond appropriately," said von der Leyen.
She emphasized that the EU institutions were at the end of the current budget and the current period was almost over. "If I look at the tasks ahead of us, we are running short of the flexibility to act in crises as we see them right now," she said, calling urgently on the member states to find common ground in order to proceed.
"It's very late already. And we really need now a common agreement on the next budget for the next seven years," said von der Leyen.
