European Union interior ministers have agreed in principle to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers across the continent to try to tackle the mounting refugee crisis.
EU nations had earlier rubber-stamped a plan to relocate 40,000 from Italy and Greece, with each country that takes in refugees receiving €6,000 (£4,400) per person.
The European Commission had sought to distribute 160,000 refugees across 22 EU member states over the next two years – a quota policy several countries, including Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, oppose.
So far there is no detail on how the asylum seekers, who have been fleeing conflict and poverty in countries including Syria and Iraq, will be shared out.
And ministers will meet again next month to work out how many refugees each nation will take in, as Luxembourg foreign minister Jean Asselborn said “it is premature for the Council to take a decision today”.
Luxembourg holds the rotating presidency of EU ministerial councils and the official Twitter account of its government revealed the latest development in a tweet.
It read: “Agreement in principle on relocation of 120,000 additional persons,” adding “adoption foreseen” at the next meeting of interior ministers on 8 October.
Germany has revealed it expects a million migrants to enter the country this year – 200,000 more than previous estimates.
It is one of a number of countries, including Austria and Slovakia, that have imposed new border checks amid the crisis.
Hungary has blocked the main unofficial crossing point from it southern neighbour Serbia that is used by migrants to enter the EU.
Police used a rail cargo container covered with seven coils of razor wire to seal the railway crossing, ahead of tougher rules from the Budapest government that come into force on Tuesday.
Hungary has deployed hundreds of extra police officers to its border with Serbia and refugees who cross the frontier illegally could be arrested and face imprisonment.
A number of countries oppose proposals to distribute migrants around the bloc according to national quotas.
The UK is not involved in the quota scheme and instead is planning to accept vulnerable and displaced people from refugee camps in nations bordering Syria.
Earlier on Monday, David Cameron visited one such refugee camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to see the impact of the humanitarian crisis “at source” days after vowing to take in 20,000 refugees over the next five years.
The Prime Minister has said the UK will not take in refugees who have already made it to Europe as he believes it would encourage more people to make the dangerous journey to the continent by land and sea. – Sky News.
