Graphic detail | Europe’s migrant crisis

Relocation quotas

EU ministers agree on a plan for the relocation of asylum-seekers

By THE DATA TEAM

EUROPEAN UNION ministers have forced through a plan to relocate asylum-seekers across the block. The scheme will distribute most of the 120,000 asylum-seekers in Greece and Italy to 22 other European countries. The hope is to relieve some of the pressure of the migrant crisis on frontline countries. Around 480,000 migrants have arrived by sea to Greece and Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the UNHCR. The proposal will add to the relocation scheme of 40,000 refugees agreed in July.

Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic voted against the proposals, and could be forced to take asylum seekers against their will. Britain, Denmark and Ireland are exempt from plans that involve asylum and could opt out, but both Denmark and Ireland have said they will accept some of the relocated asylum-seekers. The relocated asylum-seekers will be migrants from Syria, Eritrea and Iraq; they are therefore almost certain to be granted refugee status in the country to which they are relocated.

Though the plan will please those sympathetic to the refugees’ plight, it is a small step. The EU received almost 100,000 applications in June and the German government expects almost 1m arrivals this year. It is nonetheless sure to be a divisive one. The scheme will draw deeper lines between member states, which are increasing at odds over how to handle the crisis. Europe’s ministers remain a long way from resolving this crisis.

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