Based on the proportions outlined in the proposal, here are countries that have already approved asylum applications at a rate …
Additional work by Josh Keller and Jeremy White. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/04/world/europe/europe-refugee-distribution.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Share on FacebookSave for lateThe EU executive has announced a drive aimed at radically overhauling dysfunctional and fragmented immigration policies in Europe, urging a common regime of EU border guards, the opening of legal channels to coordinate arrivals to Europe, as well as binding and permanent systems for absorbing the influx of refugees fairly across the continent.
In a major address to the European parliament in Strasbourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, called for root-and-branch reform of disparate immigration policies in the EU. He complained that national governments were failing to observe agreements on asylum procedures, and warned that several countries could be sanctioned.
“I don’t want to get despondent, but Europe is not in good shape,” Juncker said, concentrating his first and lengthy ‘state of the union’ speech on the EU’s biggest postwar migration emergency.
Accusing national governments reluctant to take in refugees of historical amnesia, he listed Europe’s long record of helping refugees fleeing and persecution, from the Huguenots in 17th-century France to the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, to emphasise that the Geneva conventions established in 1951 to regulate refugee treatment were aimed at helping Europeans crushed in the fallout of the second world war.
“Today it is Europe that is sought as a place of refuge and exile. It is Europe today that represents a beacon of hope, a haven of stability in the eyes of women and men in the Middle East and in Africa. That is something to be proud of and not something to fear.”
Juncker confirmed that Brussels was asking national governments to agree to distribute 160,000 refugees currently in Italy, Greece and Hungary. This had to be on a binding and not a voluntary basis. “It has to be done and it will be done,” he said.
Additionally, he proposed a permanent new system of sharing refugees in case of crisis. He also called for the creation of a European force of border and coastguards to patrol and police the external frontiers of the passport-free Schengen travel zone embracing 26 countries.
Juncker announced that the commission was drafting policies on how to open up legal channels to allow people seeking to get to Europe by highly hazardous routes to do so much more safely. “We have the means to help those fleeing from war, terror and oppression,” he said. “Migration must change from a problem to be tackled to a well managed resource.”
The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, calls on European Union member states to accept 160,000 asylum-seekers from war-torn countries.
The blueprint unveiled by Juncker sets the scene for a potentially ugly confrontation on Monday in Brussels, when interior ministers from the 28 countries meet to discuss the compulsory refugee quotas demanded by the EU and supported strongly by Germany, France and Italy but vehemently rejected by the younger EU members of central Europe. They remain intensely reluctant to bow to a system of imposed quotas.
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Juncker pointedly remarked that today’s wave of immigration from the Middle East and Africa could be tomorrow’s influx from a war-ravaged Ukraine, the message being that the eastern Europeans on the frontline would then demand help from western Europe.
In Berlin, Angela Merkel offered vocal support for Juncker, arguing that the commission proposals did not go far enough. “Generally we need a binding agreement on a binding distribution of refugees between all member states based on fair criteria,” the German chancellor told the Bundestag.
Juncker’s figure of 160,000 was only a first step, she added. Receiving refugees was a European responsibility, but there was no point in putting a ceiling on the numbers to be shared.
Germany and others receiving the lion’s share of refugees are warning that national border controls within the Schengen area could be re-established if countries continue to veto equitable sharing of the new arrivals.
Juncker stressed that the Schengen zone would not be sacrificed while he remained in charge of the commission. Speaking of “common” and “united” refugee and asylum policies, he said they had to “be permanently anchored in our policy approach and our rules”.
“We will propose ambitious steps towards a European border and coastguard before the end of the year,” he said. “The commission will come forward with a well-designed legal migration package in early 2016.”
A cross-party group of 14 British MEPs have written a letter to David Cameron urging him to listen to the views of European experts on the issue of relocation and to take part in Juncker’s proposed scheme.
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The Liberal Democrats’ only MEP, Catherine Bearder, said the UK’s European partners were exasperated by the UK prime minister’s “stubborn refusal to take part in a collective European response to this crisis”.
“By refusing to take a single refugee that has arrived on Europe’s shores, the UK government is shirking our international duty and lowering Britain’s standing in the world,” she said. “Of course we must do more to tackle the causes of the refugee crisis at source, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the human tragedy unfolding right now on our continent.”
Glenis Willmott MEP, Labour’s leader in the European parliament, said: “The prime minister should be leading efforts for a common EU plan for relocation and resettlement of refugees – not acting in isolation, weeks after Germany and other countries have taken the lead.”
A spokeswoman for Cameron said Juncker’s speech covered “the importance of a fair deal for Britain”.
“The point I’d make is that the UK is already playing its part and – in terms of a financial contribution to tackling the refugee crisis from Syria – we are the leading donor nation on that,” she said.
“In terms of any relocation, we have already been clear on our position, which is that we are not bound by it and we are going to focus our efforts on resettlement.”
The biggest speech of Juncker’s 10 months as head of the commission came close on the heels of family bereavement. His mother died last Sunday, since when his father has been taken into hospital.
In a plea for European generosity towards the 500,000 he said had entered the EU this year, Juncker said: “Europe is the baker in Kos who gives away his bread to hungry and weary souls. Europe is the students in Munich and in Passau who bring clothes for the new arrivals at the train station. Europe is the policeman in Austria who welcomes exhausted refugees upon crossing the border. This is the Europe I want to live in.”
Over 438,000 people sought asylum in European countries till July this year. Last year 571,000 people took refuge in Europe. This growing tide of refugees has created a crisis in the EU, especially among Schengen countries where movement of people is unrestricted. Most immigrants are undertaking perilous journeys across the Medi-terranean, 3,279 have died in these attempts. Receiving countries are scrambling to provide food, shelter and healthcare to the emigrants.
Where are the migrants coming from and why?
War zones in West Asia and North Africa, as well as poorer European countries are the main regions from where emigrants are fleeing war and poverty. The largest number are from Syria where a civil war has raged for over four years. Afghanistan and Iraq, war-torn since 2001 and 2003, are big sources. The Libyan civil war has forced people to leave. Refugees have also been recorded from Sub-Saharan Africa — Eritrea andNigeria. They are fleeing poverty and conflict. Within Europe, many have been trying to leave Kosovo and Serbia.
How do they reach Europe, where do they go?
This year, the largest number of asylum seekers have been detected at Greek borders. They were mostly Syrians who had fled to Turkey, travelled by dinghies to scattered Greek islands. From Greece, they crossed the western Balkans to enter other countries. Another major route is the dangerous Mediterranean crossing in over-filled boats from Tunisia/Libya to Italy. Other routes include crossing over to Spain from Algeria/Morocco. Once they reach the European mainland they spread out. Germany is the most popular destination followed by Sweden, France, Italy.
What are European governments doing about it?
The EU will meet on September 16 to figure out how to deal with the crisis. So far there's no common approach. A quota system has been rejected, but there's mutual tension because some countries are affected more. Germany has said all Syrians will be taken in, calling for generosity and a sharing of the burden. "If Europe fails on the question of refugees," Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, "if this close link with universal civil rights is broken, then it won't be the Europe we wished for." Hungary, meanwhile, has built a 175-km fence along its Serbian border and UK has accepted only 216 Syrian refugees since January 2014. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Why-this-Europe-migration-crisis/articleshow/48795562.cms?prtpage=1
David Cameron says 'hard military force' needed to tackle Assad and Isis
In response to a question in PMQs on the refugee crisis, Cameron signalled start of a campaign for greater British military involvement in Syria
David Cameron: ‘Assad has to go, Isil has to go.’ Photograph: PA/PA
As he signalled the start of a government push to make the case for greater British military involvement in Syria, the prime minister said that a failure to take military action was “a decision itself and has consequences”.
Cameron made his remarks at prime minister’s questions as Harriet Harman, in her last appearance at the dispatch box as Labour’s interim leader, pressed him to put a figure on the number of people Britain was prepared to take from refugee camps in countries neighbouring Syria.
The prime minister said: “She talks about going to the causes of these crises. She is absolutely right about that. We have to be frank, particularly the eastern Mediterranean crisis is because Assad has butchered his own people and because Isil [Isis] have in their own way butchered others, and millions have fled Syria.
“We can do all we can as the moral humanitarian nation taking people, spending money on aid and helping in refugee camps. But we have to be part of the international alliance that says we need an approach in Syria which will mean we have a government that can look after its people. Assad has to go, Isil has to go. Some of that will require not just spending money, not just aid, not just diplomacy but it will on occasion require hard military force.”
The prime minister’s remarks suggest the government is preparing the ground to make the case for military action, which could take place on two fronts. These are expanding British involvement in airstrikes against Isis targets from Iraq to Syria, and possibly taking action against Assad. The prime minister’s decision to highlight the need for “hard military force” to remove Assad may cause some surprise as he lost a parliamentary vote in August 2013 that was designed to lead to military strikes against the Assad regime.
The prime minister has signalled in recent days that he would not seek parliamentary approval for an extension of British involvement in airstrikes from Iraq to Syria unless he could be guaranteed a cross-party consensus. This was seen as a sign that he would not hold a vote if Jeremy Corbyn is elected Labour leader.
But the prime minister indicated he would step up his efforts to make the case for military action. “When we don’t involve ourselves in these issues and take difficult decisions, that is a decision itself and it has consequences,” he said. “That is what I hope we can debate and discuss in the coming months.”
The prime minister responded to Harman’s questions on refugees by saying the government would convene a meeting of councils and the relevant agencies to work out the settlement of the refugees. Government sources indicated a change of tack by saying they have been advised by aid groups that run the camps not to place the emphasis on unaccompanied children. The government had said it would place a focus on orphans.
Harman said: “The responsibilities we share as well as the threats we face reach across borders in this globalised world. To be British is not to be narrow, inward-looking and fearful of the outside world but to be strong, confident and proud to reach out and engage with the rest of the world. The government should rise to this challenge of our time and I urge him to do so.”
The prime minister said he was happy to consider an investigation by the parliamentary intelligence and security committee into the military operation to kill suspected terrorist Reyaad Khan in Syria.
But with the government insisting it would not hesitate to take similar action against others on a reported “hitlist” of Isis extremists, he said he would not “contract out” responsibility for the UK’s anti-terror policy.
Pressed by the SNP’s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, who will serve on the committee, to refer the drone strike to the ISC, he said he would be “very happy to discuss that with the new chair”.
But he added: “The only proviso I would put on it is that the intelligence and security committee cannot be responsible for overseeing current operations.
“The responsibility for current operations must lie with the government, and the government has to come to the House of Commons to explain that.
“I am not going to contract out our counter-terrorism policy to someone else. I take responsibility for it.”
Source: New York Times analysis of demographic, economic and asylum data for each country. Note: Britain, Denmark and Ireland are exempt from the new relocation proposal.
The proposal is not comprehensive: Hungary has already received nearly three times more asylum applications than the 54,000 from those who would be redistributed. But the quotas would be a sign of cooperation in Europe, and they may be a starting point for further distribution.
“We now need immediate action,” said the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, in his State of the European Union speech. “We cannot leave Italy, Greece and Hungary to fare alone.”
There is no guarantee that ministers will accept the plan, which Mr. Juncker asked member states to approve at a meeting on Sept. 14. European Union leaders failed to agree on far more modest quotas at a summit meeting in June, and many governments must contend with the growing support of populist or anti-immigrant groups.
These charts use the proportions from the quotas proposed on Wednesday to assess which countries have taken on a higher share than the proposal would require, and which have not.
If the proportions proposed on Wednesday went into effect now:
granted asylum in Europe, January 2014 to June 201514 countries would haveto accept more applications10%20%FranceSpainPolandRomaniaPortugalCzech RepublicFinlandSlovakiaCroatiaLithuaniaSloveniaEstoniaLatviaLuxembourg
Sources: Eurostat; European Commission. Note: Britain, Ireland and Denmark are exempt from the new relocation proposal.
A country’s population and its gross domestic product account for 80 percent of the formula used to calculate the proposed quotas. The European Commission has said that larger populations and economies “are generally considered more able to shoulder greater migration pressures.”
The chart below shows that, of the larger countries with stronger economies, Germany and Sweden have accepted many more asylum seekers than the proposal would require, while Finland and France are behind. Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta stand out as accepting more applicants than the proposal would require, despite being smaller and poorer countries.
Population vs. wealth
Accepted proportionally more people than proposed
Fewer than proposed
Exempt from asylum proposal
all people granted asylum in Europe from January 2014 to June 2015Gross domestic product per capita← Poorer economiesRicher economies →
Sources: International Monetary Fund; Eurostat; European Commission. Note: Luxembourg is not shown.
