The ongoing refugee crisis is the most acute political and policy challenge the EU and its neighbouring countries have been facing lately. The scale of the crisis increased in the course of 2014 and reached a peak in 2015. With a focus on Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, this brief contends that the EU policies have been inadequate in addressing the magnitude of the crisis. Thus, it recommends some options that the EU could consider such as better recognizing the economic and demographic need of migrants, opening more regular channels of migration to the EU, managing migration flows at origin, pursuing rationale and long-term integration policies, enhancing migrants’ resources and strengthening cooperation programmes with origin countries.