Ahead of the college of EU Commissioners, the president of the S&D Group, Gianni Pittella, urged the Commission to create a new humanitarian assistance tool to help refugees in Europe. 

S&D Group President Gianni Pittella said:
"The inhuman situation in which refugees, human beings, are living in Greece or in Calais is not acceptable. European leaders and public opinion should realize that urgent humanitarian assistance is now needed in Europe itself. As our group has already urged, the EU Commission and especially the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, must now activate an emergency assistance instrument from Europe to Europe.
 
"As National governments have been unable to tackle the refugee crisis properly, the European Union must demonstrate that it can reduce the humanitarian suffering of refugees by providing basic necessities: shelter, healthcare, food. This is a priority not just as Europeans but as human beings!"

S&D Group Vice-President Enrique Guerrero Salom added:

"Every time a human being is left behind and vulnerable, lives are lost and opportunities for the future diminish. We must recognize people´s right to live in safety, dignity and with the prospect to control their own destinies. The European Union can and must do more to protect civilians displaced by war. We urge a determined effort to overcome the immediate humanitarian crisis by providing emergency support within the Union, not in the next few months but in the next few days."