"The European Union has responded only 5% of the target for the resettlement of refugees from Greece and Italy," is the response title of Jennifer Rankin from Brussels published today by the British newspaper The Guardian which notes that only 8162 people they have resettled from these two countries at the forefront of the immigration crisis, instead of the 160,000 that was predicted before more than a year to be reinstalled.
The Guardian points out that European countries have only reinstall one in 20 of the refugees who had promised that would offer shelter, as they insist the deep divisions on how Europe should help those people fleeing war and persecution . A total of 6.212 refugees have resettled from Greece and 1,950 from Italy.
Although the EU has achieved for only 5% of the target, the Eyropaios Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said that it is possible to achieve that goal by September 2017. It welcomed the increase in the number of resettlements which in November was observed and predicted that the trend will improve. "More and more Member States are opening their doors," he said. "I believe that very soon we will be able to say that the resettlement program works."
In the meantime, however, as the Guardian notes, Hungary and Poland have not received any asylum seeker to Greece and Italy. Slovakia, which carries on until the end of the month rotating EU presidency, has offered shelter only 9 people, while the Czech Republic 12.
The UK chose not to participate in the program, as entitled under a special agreement concluded with the EU.
The deep-rooted divisions of Europe in terms of migration are now exposed to light at the meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels, who discuss the meaning of "effective solidarity", as has been called the effort a way be found to share of the Union countries, the cost of reception of asylum seekers.
In May, the European Commission had asked the countries that refuse to accept asylum seekers to pay "solidarity contribution" of EUR 250,000 for each person believe that Brussels should have been accepted. The Quartet of Visegrad, which brings together four central European countries, denounced the idea as blackmail.
Slovakia is seeking to steer the country towards a compromise, but diplomats have admitted that there will be no significant progress today or next week, when the issue discussed Thursday the summit of EU leaders.
The latest Commission figures also show that 748 people were sent to the Greek islands back to Turkey under a controversial agreement reached in March between Ankara and the EU, and has helped to significantly reduce migratory flows.
