EU edges forward on asylum reform as Ukraine war causes rise in refugee numbers

The aim is to shift 10,000 from frontline states such as Greece to other EU countries in the first year

Police patrol alongside a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border, Greece. AP

The EU's long-stalled efforts to reform its asylum policy made a small breakthrough when France said “a large majority” of member states backed a migrant relocation plan.

The “voluntary solidarity mechanism” put forward by France in the final weeks of its turn to hold the EU presidency calls for willing countries to take in asylum seekers from those on the bloc's southern periphery.

Those unwilling to take in migrants — including several on the EU's eastern rim — but still agreeing to the scheme would pay a financial contribution instead.

The aim, according to several European diplomats, is to shift 10,000 asylum seekers from front line states such as Greece, Italy and Malta to other EU countries in the first year. If the trial works, it can be renewed on an annual basis.

French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, who presented the plan to EU counterparts at a meeting in Luxembourg, said “more than a dozen countries have committed to putting in place relocation mechanisms”.

They include France, Germany and Luxembourg.

Nancy Faeser, Germany's Minister of the Interior and Community, said Bulgaria and Romania had also agreed, adding, “only two or three countries came out against it” in the meeting.

Mr Darmanin said a “solidarity platform” would meet in coming days to work out details of the plan, which remains a non-binding text to which there is an opt-out.

The Netherlands and Belgium said they will not be taking in asylum seekers under the scheme, although diplomats said they might contribute in other ways.

Austria said the proposal would send a “wrong signal to people smugglers”.

Other countries such as Hungary and Poland have long resisted any compulsory migrant relocation scheme.

Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said she saw the step as an important move after spending many months in a failed effort to have member states adopt a broader asylum reform proposal the commission unveiled in September 2020.

“We can conclude that this has been an extremely successful council meeting,” she said.

The plan comes at a time that Europe is hosting more than four million Ukrainian refugees, who do not come under the EU asylum rules that are applied to other nationalities such as Syrians and Afghans.