Baroness Helic – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria were used to decide which governments to invite to participate in the European Union leaders’ meeting of 25 October to discuss the Western Balkans migratory route.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government understands that on 25 October Commission President Juncker convened leaders from those countries most affected by the migration crisis along the Western Balkans route; namely, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. The emergency meeting was not attended by all 28 Member States of the EU, or all the countries of the Western Balkans. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), participated in a formal EU Conference with Western Balkans and other countries on 8 October in Luxembourg which agreed a comprehensive package of measures for dealing with the challenges of migration through the Eastern Mediterranean.