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EU says to take in 20,000 migrants, gives some opt-outs
Migrants wait to disembark from the Italian navy ship Borsini in the Sicilian harbour of Palermo, May 5, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
By Robin Emmott and Francesco Guarascio
13/05/2015
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive proposed on Wednesday taking in 20,000 refugees over two years and distributing them across Europe but giving Britain, Ireland and Denmark the option not to accept any.
Shocked by the deaths of migrants from North Africa trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, the European Union is trying to put in place a fairer way to resettle asylum-seekers at a time when anti-immigrant parties are on the rise.
Italy and other southern European countries are clamouring for EU help to deal with the influx but, while Italy, Germany and Austria back a quota system, some EU states are opposed.
"No country should be left alone to address huge migratory pressures," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on his Twitter account after the proposals were published.
Under a quota scheme based on country size, economic output and other measures, Germany would take the most migrants followed by France and Italy, assuming Britain opts out.
Hours before the plans were unveiled, British interior minister, Theresa May, criticised the EU's approach, saying that by not sending economic migrants back, the bloc was encouraging them to come.
But Juncker said in a video to accompany the Commission's proposal that Europe needed immigrants as its workforce will dwindle by 2060 and that Europe needed to show solidarity.
His right-hand-man, Frans Timmermans, told a news conference that returning some migrants was still part of the EU's policy and that Britain's May "can rest assured" that not all refugees will be granted asylum.
Britain, Denmark and Ireland have exemptions on matters concerning asylum, immigration, visas and external border controls based on protocols agreed in the EU's Lisbon treaty.
With only 25 countries of the EU's 28 member countries likely to take part, Germany will take 18.42 percent of refugees, followed by 14.17 percent in France, and 11.84 percent in Italy. Spain will take just less than 10 percent.
Sweden, which after Germany received the most asylum applications in Europe in 2014, will take about 3 percent.
The Commission's formal proposal to EU governments will come at the end of the month.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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