Brussels, 07/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Three countries of the European Union - Germany, France and Spain - are expected to take 58% of the 120,000 migrants eligible for asylum in the framework of the emergency resettlement system for migrants arriving in the EU from Greece, Italy and Hungary, to be tabled by the European Commission on Wednesday 9 September.
Germany, France and Spain will respectively take 31,443 people (26.2% of the total), 24,031 people (20%) and 14,931 people (12.4%) under international protection, according to a distribution key which has been leaked to the press. These countries are followed by Poland (9,287 people and 7.7% of the total) and the Netherlands (7,214, or 6%). “The European Commission will propose to distribute 120,000 refugees, or 24,000 people to France. France is prepared to do its bit”, the French President François Hollande told a press conference on Monday 7 September (see other article).
Over the weekend, nearly 20,000 people reached Germany via Austria from Hungary, which is now the second point of entry for migrants after Greece, according to the European Commission. This mass influx has led to a movement of citizens' solidarity in Germany, but has also provoked the ire of the CSU, the Bavarian sister party to Germany's CDU. According to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the cost of hosting people fleeing war will stand at €10 billion in 2016.
On the basis of criteria (population, wealth, unemployment rate, number of registered asylum applications, hosting efforts already made), the distribution key of the future emergency system is reported to have been tailored in favour of the Baltic states and the countries of central and eastern Europe in order to convince them to settle refugees on their territory, according to Le Monde. In the event of refusal, for which reasons must be given, a country may make a financial contribution to hosting people fleeing conflict and war, mainly Syrians.
The mechanism is reported to involve 50,400 people who have obtained the right of asylum in Greece, 54,000 who have gone through procedures in Hungary, and 15,000 people in Italy. “Nobody can be resettled if they have not previously registered”, a Commission spokesperson explained, adding that beneficiaries of the future mechanism would have no choice over their host country. Similarly, once in receipt of their asylum rights, they may not leave that host country, in line with the so-called Dublin rules. In the event of that person's presence in another member state, he or she will automatically be returned to the host country.
This emergency resettlement proposal -which Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom may opt out of - comes on top of the mechanism to relocate 40,000 migrants already present in Greece and Italy, which is already on the table of the Council (see EUROPE 11363). It will be adopted under the co-decision procedure, with the European Parliament and Council as co-legislators and the member states ruling by qualified majority.
A legislative package to respond to the migration challenge
This emergency distribution system is one of the key proposals of the legislative package to be presented by the Commission on Wednesday 9 September, during the state of the union address of its President, Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 11382). This package will include an obligatory distribution mechanism for asylum seekers which can be activated in the event of a sudden migration crisis and which will be adopted by the qualified majority of the member state following a simple consultation of the EP.
In view of the current drama, “we have proposed, together with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a permanent and obligatory refugee mechanism. The operative word is 'obligatory'. It will distinguish it from what has already been done, or not, in recent months”, said Hollande. Visiting Traiskirchen (Austria) on Monday, the Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said that “all member states must take their share” of the hosting effort, although we are “not in a position to assess future needs” to tackle this “European crisis of global dimensions”. He will visit Budapest later this month.
France argues that a permanent and obligatory relocation mechanism will only work if it is accompanied by other measures to better manage flows of people trying to reach the EU. A condition to act effectively is controls on the borders of the EU with centres to distinguish between migrants who can be received with humanity and those who should be returned home, the French President said. These centres ('hotspots'), located mainly in Greece and Italy, will register people eligible to claim protection and make it easier to send back people from countries considered safe, particularly the Balkan states which may one day be members of the EU (see EUROPE 11376). On Wednesday, the Commission is to table a specific proposal on these so-called 'safe' countries.
On the external plank of the EU's response to the migration challenge, the French head of state called for humanitarian aid to be granted on a “massive” scale to Syria's neighbour countries, which are currently hosting four million refugees. Commissioner Avramopoulos called for measures to step up the fight against traffickers in migrants.
According to the agency Frontex, the number of Syrians detected at the borders of the EU in the Western Balkans region nearly quadrupled between the first quarter of 2015 and the second, to stand at 20,000 people. In the second place, out of a total of 50,000 people, come Afghans. (Mathieu Bion)