The European Commission has declared the Cologne sex attacks on New Year’s Eve have nothing to do with Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis, describing such links as “false associations”.

Internal minutes of a European Commission meeting held on January 13th illustrate the complacent attitude of senior European Union (EU) leaders to the Cologne sex attacks. They appear more concerned with limiting damage to the wider European project than facing problems caused by their own migration policies.

The New Year’s Eve attacks were perpetrated “almost exclusively” by migrant men of Arabic and North African descent. As Breitbart London previously reported they followed the model of similar ‘taharrush’ incidents in the Arab world where large groups of men attack and even rape women at major events.

Nevertheless, according to the First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans (pictured right), the Cologne sex attacks were nothing more than “a matter of public order” and were not in fact “related to the refugee crisis.” As such the role of the Commission is that of “sounding the voice of reason to defuse tensions and counter populist rhetoric” because of the “xenophobic reactions” prompted by the events. Specifically he calls for:

“…the unconditional rejection of false associations between certain criminal acts, such as the attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, and the mass influx of refugees.”

The minutes also show Commissioner Timmermans observing “that the flow of migrants at EU borders was not slowing down and estimates suggested that only about 40% of them, mostly Syrians, were fleeing war and therefore in need of international protection; meanwhile more and more third country nationals were slipping in who were driven by mainly economic reasons and did not qualify for such protection.”

Showing where his priorities lies, the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured left), spoke of preserving the “credibility of the Commission” at a time when it is “struggling to provide political inspiration for Europe” in the face of “unworthy” accusations from Member State leaders who impugned the reputation of the body.