French president vows to shut down unacceptable migrant camp

French President François Hollande on Saturday confirmed plans to close the squalid Calais migrant camp known as "the Jungle," saying he hopes authorities can relocate as many as 9,000 migrants to reception centres across France in the coming weeks.

Hollande, visiting one of France's 164 migrant reception centres in the central city of Tours, said conditions in the Calais camp are "not acceptable" and "extremely difficult," especially for those who fled war to get there.

Hollande, who is to visit Calais itself on Monday, said, "we cannot have such camps in France." He said his country must
show it is "capable of being dignified, humane and responsible."

The reception centres will hold 40-50 people for up to four months while authorities study their cases, he said. Migrants who don't seek asylum will be deported.

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Half of the Calais camp was dismantled in March but its population has since doubled. Hollande's government has promised to dismantle the Calais camp by the end of the year but has not given a firm timeline.

The plan to relocate the migrants to towns across France has prompted vehement protests from many local conservative and far-right politicians, saying they fear the consequences of having migrants in their towns.

European leaders meet on migration

Meanwhile, European leaders gathered Saturday for a summit to discuss migration along the Balkan route, the path into Europe that Austria and others largely shut down this year, leaving thousands stuck in Greece and infuriating Athens.

National leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and European Union officials were greeted by Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern. 

"Today we should discuss how to improve the effectiveness of our actions. We need to confirm politically and in practice that the western Balkan route of irregular migration is closed for good, and this is why I really appreciate that Chancellor Kern took this initiative and organized this meeting," European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters ahead of meetings.

There has been tension between Germany's Merkel and ex-communist eastern states which have refused to take in asylum-seekers, many of them Muslims.

But Merkel, who let in a million people last year, has said she now accepts their arguments for "flexible solidarity," by which they could help in the migrant crisis in ways other than by taking in refugees.