Brussels, 15/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - In a new report published on 15 June, the European Commission criticised the slowness of the efforts by member states on relocating asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. Of the 106,000 people that member states agreed, only 2,280 have been relocated since September of last year. The Commission noted that the speed of relocation had increased a little over the last few weeks, the rate having “almost doubled” since its third report on 18 May.
As for the resettlement of refugees living in camps in third countries - under a decision taken in July 2015, member states agreed to take in 22,500 people and, under the EU-Turkey framework agreement of 18 March, at least 54,000 people are to be taken in - the Commission reports that 511 Syrian refugees in Turkey have been resettled in the EU. This resettlement from Turkey is in exchange for readmission by Turkey of migrants who illegally entered the EU, a highly controversial arrangement that has affected 787 people, including 31 Syrians (see other article).
With regard to the 20 July 2015 programme that involves people of all nationalities, by 10 June 2016, the member states had resettled 7,272 people, according to figures provided by the Commission on Wednesday. These people have been taken in by 19 resettling states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia do not feature.
The Commission says that progress is too slow, particularly on relocation. It had hoped at the start of this year that 6,000 people per month would be relocated. It points out, too, that relocation from Italy remains particularly low in view of the increasing number of potential applicants for relocation arriving in that country. In Greece, some 49,000 asylum seekers and migrants are currently awaiting registration and processing for relocation to another member state taking part in the programme. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)