At a press conference on Wednesday 28 September, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the results show that the asylum-seeker relocation mechanism is working and member states are required to implement decisions that have been taken, . The emergency relocation mechanism for 160,000 asylum-seekers was adopted in September 2015 but has taken a battering recently in a number of statements by European politicians and has been slammed by the Visegrad countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) that wish it to be replaced with the notion of "flexible solidarity".
On 14 September, it was European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who cast doubt by stating that solidarity when it comes to accepting refugees could not be forced on countries. A week later, he said that solidarity could also take other forms.
In a debate on Tuesday 27 September with the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, Juncker repeated his attachment to the relocation mechanism, which is binding for the member states, and criticised member states that are failing to take their responsibilities seriously in this domain.
Juncker criticised the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, who has decided to hold a referendum on 2 October on the EU’s future migration policies. Juncker said he should stop causing divisions in the EU. Despite assurances from Avramopoulos on Wednesday 28 September that the Commission was not changing direction in its refugee quota policy, relocation has not been hugely successful to date, with only 5,651 individuals relocated from Greece (4,455) and Italy (1,196).
The Commission, however, views the fact that 1,202 relocations took place in September (the highest figure to date) as a success and encouraging sign . It says it is even possible for 30,000 individuals to be relocated from Greece by the end of the year to other member states.
In a press release, the Commission states: "The efforts by Italy and Greece, the member states of relocation, EU agencies and international organisations have resulted in close to 100% fingerprinting, strengthened security, and a significant increase in the number of relocation applicants and a substantial acceleration of relocation transfers, particularly in the latest months from Greece".
The Commission recommends: "Member States should continue building on these encouraging results. With the increased capacity of the Greek Asylum Service, and if member states step up their efforts, it should notably be possible to relocate the remaining relocation candidates present in Greece (around 30,000) within the next year".
Quizzed about the idea of "flexible solidarity" mooted by the Visegrad nations, and these countries’ refusal to accept asylum-seekers (Slovakia has accepted three from Greece), Avramopoulos said that all member states were bound by their legal obligations, which were not optional, and what member states have decided together has to be implemented. The commissioner said, however, that different forms of solidarity did not mean a change in policy, quite the opposite in fact. Rather ambiguous wording that could also mean that a different contribution from the Visegrad countries would not be detrimental to the general objectives pursued by the Commission when it comes to accepting asylum-seekers.
The next test will be the referendum in Hungary on 2 October which is not about the 2015 relocation decisions (which Hungary and Slovakia are challenging at the European Court of Justice), but future EU policy based on a compulsory sharing out of refugees using quotas – a mechanism included in the draft reform of the Dublin Regulation that is currently on the negotiating table at the Council and European Parliament. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)