EU members fail to meet relocation target

Only 208 additional refugees have been relocated by the members of the European Union (EU) since March 16, 2016, failing to meet the target in the same period of at least 6,000 persons, the European Commission said in report on Tuesday.

In its "Second Report on Relocation and Resettlement," the EU executive body gave an update on the progress made until April 11 this year and assessed the actions undertaken by EU countries to implement the emergency relocation and European resettlement plans.

Overall, progress since the first report released in mid-March has been unsatisfactory, the European Commission said. "On relocation, little progress has been made, while we see good progress on resettlement."

EU member states have made a legal commitment to relocate 160,000 people in clear need of international protection - a commitment they have reaffirmed on several occasions.

In order to meet the commitments allocated under the relocation plan, around 5,600 relocations per month should be achieved as a minimum. Based on this assessment, the EU last month called for at least 6,000 relocations to be completed by mid-April.

Based on the latest information available, between 35,000 and 40,000 persons in Greece would be eligible for relocation.

In view of the emergency situation on the ground, the EU then called for stepping up the rate so that by the time of the third monthly report in May, at least 20,000 relocations should have been completed.

However, by now the total number of relocated applicants from Greece and Italy is only 1,145 since last September.

Therefore, in the report, the EU called on member states to drastically increase their relocation efforts to alleviate the urgent humanitarian situation in Greece and prevent the deterioration of the situation in Italy, where migration flows are increasing.

"EU heads of state or government have systematically called in European Council Conclusions for the acceleration of relocation efforts. These calls made must now be matched with determined action by the competent national services on the ground," the report said.

The EU said, by the time of the second report, 5,677 displaced people in need of protection were resettled to 15 countries since the start of the EU resettlement plan agreed on July 20, 2015.

Under the European resettlement plan, EU member states planned to resettle 22,504 persons in clear need of international protection.

Good progress on resettlement is one of the results of the EU-Turkey agreement which has shifted greater focus onto resettlement efforts, the report said.

The EU and Turkey agreed on March 18, to resettle one Syrian from Turkey for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey after arriving irregularly on the Greek islands. This 1:1 mechanism aims to replace irregular flows of migrants traveling in dangerous conditions across the Aegean Sea by an orderly and legal resettlement process.

In view of implementing the deal, since it has been applied since April 4, 37 Syrians were resettled to Germany, 11 to Finland and 31 to the Netherlands.

On March 21, the European Commission tabled a proposal to make available 54,000 further places for resettlement or other forms of legal admission from Turkey, which had been initially foreseen for relocation.

"To effectively close the backdoor to irregular and dangerous migration routes, we have to open safe and legal routes to Europe for people in need of international protection. With the EU-Turkey agreement and the 1:1 mechanism in force, it has become even more urgent for member states to deliver swiftly on their resettlement commitments," EU commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said.