EU Commission Abandons Refugee Quotas in Bid to Appease Eastern States

EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson said the body's view of those trafficked across the Mediterranean had changed from refugees to illegal immigrants, She said two-thirds of arrivals were expected to have their asylum claims rejected and be deported.
The European Union's powerful Commission plans to drop refugee quotas that have divided the 27-member bloc and pay countries to host migrants.

But Charity Oxfam said the EU Commission proposals announced on Wednesday were a sop to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, who have opposed the quota policy.

European Commissioner for home affairs Ylva Johansson said the situation had changed from 2015 when the quota system was adopted, and indicated a change from the rose-tinted view of illegal immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.

    “We need to deal with the real situation and not deal with the situation that people have in their heads,” she said. “Most are not refugees: two-thirds of irregular arrivals will have a negative decision.”

Johansson, the Swedish representative on the commission, said 491,200 asylum-seekers were marked for deportation but only 29 per cent had been sent back to their home countries. “100% returns is maybe not doable” she said, but there was “significant room for improvement here.”

Migrants dry their clothes aboard a tourist boat some 20 kilometers from Malta, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. More than 400 migrants are living aboard pleasure cruise vessels, bobbing in the sea off Malta, many of them for weeks now. Rescued from human traffickers’ unseaworthy boats in several operations in the central Mediterranean since late April, the migrants, along with the Maltese government, are waiting for European Union countries to offer to take them.

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The plans also include payments to host nations of €10,000 (£9,160) for each adult refugee they take in, although the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in 2017 that the true cost of hospitality could be much higher.

    Oxfam accused the commission of appeasing Eastern European states. “The commission has bowed to pressure from EU governments whose only objective is to decrease the number of people granted protection in Europe,” said EU office chief Marissa Ryan.

The proposals would also leave Greece, Italy and Spain to continue bearing the brunt of hosting migrants trafficked from north Africa and Turkey.......https://sptnkne.ws/DJDf