The European Commission has proposed that EU countries accept 40,000 refugees – Portugal’s share is 1,701 from Syria and Eritrea which need to be settled over the next two years.
The detail of the ‘Agenda for Migration’ has been released by the European Commission while many European leaders face accusations of passivity and indifference to the shipwrecks of boats carrying desperate migrants across the Mediterranean.
According to the International Organization for Migration, so far in the year to mid-April more than 1,750 migrants have drowned or died while attempting to cross to Europe. Thousands more made the crossing intact.
The 1,750 drowned is an estimated 30 times more than in the same period last year.
The 1,701 refugees that Portugal anyway is due to receive under the refugee relocation mechanism will be boosted by 680 refugees under the emergency mechanism which was introduced two weeks ago, aimed at sheltering people in need, as identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
If EC president Jean-Claude Juncker’s proposals are accepted, in the next 24 months Portugal will be getting more than 2,300 refugees, significantly ore than the paltry number the country has been grudgingly managed to accept in recent years; just 40 applications were approved from a total of 155 in 2104.
The distribution of refugees through EU countries is based on a quota system which takes into account Gross Domestic Product and the population of the host country. The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark have opted out.
Each host country will receive €6,000 per refugee received, which means that Portugal may receive about €10 million.
There is a requirement for the host country to monitor migrants by collecting fingerprint and controlling their travel to other member states.
The European Commission proposals still have to pass the scrutiny of the European Council, and several member states already have spoken out against mandatory quotas.
In addition to the UK, which has been very critical despite not fully getting involved, Hungary and Slovakia have raised questions. In France the proposals are unlikely easily to be agreed on.
