EU plans penalties for refusing asylum seekers

The European Commission has today proposed reforms to EU asylum rules that would see stiff financial penalties imposed on countries refusing to take their share of asylum seekers.

The Commission is planning a sanction of €250,000 for every refugee refused entry. But the proposals were rejected almost immediately by right-wing governments in Poland and Slovakia, with the latter's foreign minister saying the proposal "sets us back nine months and does not respect the reality".

The Commission wants changes made to an asylum system which has buckled amid an influx of migrants.

The proposals would assign each member state except for the UK, Ireland and Denmark, which have been granted an opt-out, a percentage quota of all asylum seekers. The quotas will be based upon national populations, wealth and the influx of migrants in national territories.

The plans would require support from most member states as well as MEPs. EU officials hope that, twinned with a deal with Turkey that has already reduced migrant numbers, tensions over migration within the bloc can be reduced.

The basic Dublin regulation would be kept, requiring refugees to claim asylum in the member state in which they arrive.

However, there would be several changes, including plans to help countries receiving "disproportionate numbers" of asylum claims.

The EU already has a flagship scheme to redistribute 160,000 migrants around the continent, but it has met only a tiny fraction of this target since it was agreed in 2015.

"There's simply no way around it: whenever a member state is overwhelmed, there must be solidarity and a fair sharing of responsibility within the EU," Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said.

Countries refusing to accept their quota would effectively be fined - with the money going to frontline states such as Italy and Greece that have carried the burden.

The proposals for sanctions are likely to alarm Central European countries that have refused to implement the refugee quota deal. One senior Polish official said last week that the plan was dead.

Poland had agreed to take some 7,000 asylum seekers and could face a fine of at least €1.75bn if the proposals go through.

Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were outvoted when the quota plan was agreed.

The government in Budapest on Tuesday announced plans for a referendum on the EU's resettlement plans.

The Dublin regulation is designed to stop what has become known as "asylum shopping", whereby migrants make multiple asylum claims across Europe.

Miriam Dalli says proposal 'fall short of expectations'

Maltese MEP Miriam Dalli said the proposal "falls short of what I was expecting since I believe that we require proper policies that can immediately address the ongoing crisis that we are facing. Long term solutions are required to address the current migration issue. Quick fixes will not work."
 
Dalli said one major concern is that the Commission's proposal still puts the greatest burden on border Member States that will be faced with the responsibility of refugee numbers which will trickle into Europe through Europe's front-line states.

"This means that hosting and registration of migrants will remain the responsibility of the countries they first set foot in. This is not the solidarity that the Commission promised us and is still promising us. The corrective allocation mechanism that the Commission is proposing will definitely not achieve the solidarity that the EU speaks so much about," Dalli said.
 
Furthermore, the MEP noted that the proposal specifically states that all new applicants will be relocated following a crisis established by a number of set criteria.

"This would mean that Member States will be left to face the situation alone until they reach breaking point. For me this is totally unacceptable. Whilst welcoming the introduction of financial sanctions for Member States that do not live up to their relocation responsibilities and do not show solidarity, I still believe that we lack proper guarantees in this regard. Moreover what the Commission is proposing simply means that the current ineffective system will still drag on and the proposal falls short of introducing a truly European mechanism. As the S&D negotiator on the Permanent Crisis Relocation Mechanism I will be asking for further clarifications on this proposal."