Two weeks after presenting the European Agenda on Migration, the European Commission adopted yesterday (27.5) the first proposals of its comprehensive approach to improving the management of migration.

Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos announced that the emergency response mechanism will relocate 40,000 asylum seekers - 24,000 from Italy and 16,000 from Greece. Syrians and Eritreans will be relocated to other EU Member States over a period of 2 years, under Article 78(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This provision, activated for the first time, will be used to set up an emergency relocation scheme to assist Italy and Greece.

According to an EC press release (27.5), there is a Relocation Distribution key for Greece, which lists the countries and the minimum allocation of asylum seekers per Member State. According to the proposed list, the countries asked to receive the largest proportion of migrants are: Germany (21.91%), France (16.8%) and Spain (10.72%). Member States will receive €6,000 for each person relocated to their territory.

In related news, the authorities in Greece and Norway have agreed touse funding from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway Grants to set up a new reception centre on the island of Lesvos, as part of Norway’s contribution to alleviating the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Through these funds, Norway will provide financial assistance for the day-to-day running of the reception centre on Lesvos for a one-year period. This will enhance the reception capacity of Greece for migrants. The centre is due to open later this year.

More information: EC Makes Progress on Agenda on Migration (27.5)