European Union ministers on Tuesday approved a plan for individual countries in the bloc to accept a share of the hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking asylum on the continent — but only after overruling four former Soviet bloc countries.
The home affairs and interior ministers, meeting in an emergency session here, voted on a plan to apportion 120,000 refugees — still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe — among members of the European Union.
The dissenters were the ministers representing the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Under European law, three of the countries — the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia — would be required to accept migrants against their will, said one European Union diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity shortly after the vote.
The idea behind the plan is to relieve the pressure on front-line nations like Italy and Greece, which migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and African have been flooding.
France and Germany back a compulsory approach to resettling refugees. But a call for the members to share the burden of absorbing the migrants according to the wealth and population of the member countries met with fierce resistance. The squabbling has highlighted the lack of a united European response to one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades.
Another factor holding up a deal is the reluctance of a number of countries to hand over control of immigration to the European Commission, the Brussels-based executive agency for the European Union, which drew up the plans for the mandatory system.
Diplomats had failed to agree on a draft accord on Monday but met again on Tuesday, before the interior ministers’ meeting.
The ministers were given “a balanced, consensus text” to consider, said Jean Asselborn, the foreign affairs minister of Luxembourg, which holds the rotating presidency of European Union. That text, which was prepared by Luxembourg but based on opinions from the diplomats earlier in the day, “will be our working basis,” Mr. Asselborn told reporters as he arrived at the meeting.
Thomas de Maizière, the German interior minister, told reporters he expected “a hard meeting.” He also said there was no guarantee that ministers would emerge “with a result.”
Representatives from countries that favor the plan could decide to pass the measure by a majority vote later on Tuesday. But doing so would risk imposing an unworkable system on countries that have balked at accepting quotas of migrants. Putting in place the system without broad agreement would also exacerbate the disharmony in Europe that has already led to the reintroduction of border controls by some countries.
If the ministers fail to strike a deal, the discussion about the relocation of migrants is expected to spill into Wednesday, when European Union leaders are to gather in Brussels to discuss a wider response to the crisis.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which convened the meeting planned for Wednesday, said he wanted the leaders to discuss expanding cooperation with Turkey so that migrants in that country are given adequate care and shelter, and are dissuaded from trying to enter the European Union.
“We must help Syrian refugees to a better life closer to their homes,” Mr. Tusk wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Mr. Tusk also said he wanted the leaders to discuss expanding fingerprinting and creating more reception centers inside Greece and Italy. That could turn so-called hot spots where migrants would be gathered into fully fledged refugee camps.
One of the most intransigent countries in the migration crisis has been Hungary, which has become a front line for migrants seeking asylum elsewhere, like Germany. The government in Budapest has already built a razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia, is bolstering its border along Croatia and has granted its army extra powers to deal with migrants, including allowing the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other weapons, provided no lethal force is used.
Hungary is also resisting the relocation plan — even though it would allow the country to move an estimated 54,000 migrants from its territory to other European Union members. Because Hungary has spurned that offer, that provision is likely to be shifted to Greece and Italy to help relieve the share of arrivals borne by those Mediterranean countries.
The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, would travel to Turkey on Tuesday to present a Hungarian proposal calling for the European Union to finance refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The hope is that if the bloc works to improve the conditions in those countries, the refugees would be less likely to undertake the difficult journey to Europe. But it remains to be seen how a proposal by Hungary, a country that has railed against a perceived threat of a Muslim invasion, will be received in Turkey, a majority-Muslim country, which has hosted millions of the refugees.
In a further sign of the acrimony that has characterized the European debate on immigration, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary warned on Monday that his country was being overrun. “The migrants are not just banging on our door; they are breaking it down,” he said. “Our borders are in danger, our way of life built on respect for the law, Hungary and the whole of Europe is in danger.”
The debate at the ministers’ meeting on Tuesday is over a program for relocation of a further 120,000 asylum seekers — still only a small part of the total — that would be compulsory for most member countries.
An idea being discussed by diplomats to break the deadlock is to include in the final agreement the number of migrants member states would take, but to leave out the method used by the commission to make the calculations.
Even so, a deal on Tuesday could prove elusive.
“Some solutions are on the table, what is missing is the political will and leadership to see them through,” John Dalhuisen, the Europe director for Amnesty International, warned on Monday. – New York Times
