The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is "far more optimistic than two months ago", voiced his confidence, on Wednesday 12 April, that the member states will meet their obligations by September to relocate migrants from Greece and Italy, although the European mechanism will ultimately cover just 33,000 migrants of the 160,000 individuals envisaged in September 2015.
In a complete departure from his speech just a month ago (see EUROPE 11737), Avramopoulos even said that it would be counter-productive to bring infringement proceedings against states reluctant to carry out their relocation duties and punish them by withdrawing European funds. "It will not help to attack the reluctant countries, we have to find solutions that will help refugees", he said.
Presenting the 11th report on the relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other member states, the Commissioner explained that as of 10 April, a total of 16,340 relocations had been made, 5,001 from Italy and 11,339 from Greece. "We have had very encouraging results", he said, with more than 2400 relocations since the last report.
By September, therefore, it will be entirely possible to meet the relocation commitments, said the Commissioner, who added that the programme was really starting to work.
Looking into matters more closely, however, the Commission is no longer talking about meeting the target set by the Council of the EU in 2015 of relocating 160,000 individuals. A decision made under the EU/Turkey agreement of March 2016 (see EUROPE 11515) removed a reserve of 54,000 places from this 'quota' of 160,000 to resettle refugees located in Turkey, putting the relocation target at 106,000. 8,000 individuals were then deducted to cover various derogations (such as those granted to Sweden and Austria).
The Commission is therefore aiming to relocate 98,000 people. Even so, it admits, this is a virtual target. In Greece today, there are just 16,000 people eligible for relocation and just 3,500 in Italy. By September, unless the situation changes, the European institution will therefore be able to hail the success of a programme that will actually have benefited 33,840 people rather than the 160,000 initially considered. In its defence, the Commission stresses that the target of 160,000 was theoretical in September 2015 and based on the situation at the time. In 2015, the EU took in more than one million people.
The Commission notes that the total number of people eligible for relocation and present in the two countries is well below what was provided for in the Council's decisions and that consequently, it is entirely realistic to relocate all eligible candidates currently in Greece and Italy by September 2017.
Some member states, such as Hungary and Poland, are still flatly refusing to participate in the programme.
15,492 persons resettled
As regards resettlement of refugees from third countries, 15,492 people had been resettled in 21 countries (including non-EU member states) as of 10 April, or more than two thirds of the 22,504 resettlements decided on in July 2015, the report states.
The following member states and associated countries have already fully met their targets: Estonia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
The number of resettlements from Turkey is included in the total number of resettlements, the Commission explains. 4,618 Syrian refugees have been included so far.
But here again, the European institution seems to be massaging the figures. It is including these Syrian refugees in the total number of resettlements, in other words in relation to the decision of July 2015 concerning 22,504 individuals. However, these Syrians were resettled under the EU/Turkey agreement, which opened up an additional 54,000 resettlement places, the figures of which the Commission has not announced. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)