Portugal now is to host around 4,500 - 5,000 refugees, the majority coming from camps in Italy and Greece, confirmed the Ministry of Internal Affairs today after an emergency meeting of the EC Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels.
At the meeting, additional measures were laid down to cater for the refugee influx many of whom are in Italy and Greece which can not cope with the numbers.
The Czec Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and Romania were opposed to the deal, Finland abstained, and are unlikely to take their allocation amid allegations of German bullying; the Solvakian PM Robert Fico saying that "as long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory."
Britain is not part of the new quota sharing scheme but separately has agreed to take 4,000 refugees this year and 20,000 over the next five years.
Portugal, which voted in favour of accepting a higher total, will welcome 4,500 refugees over the next two years from those already in southern Europe.
Portugal's Ministry of Internal Affairs led by Anabela Rodrigues said the Council today approved emergency measures for a further 120,000 refugees to be added the 40,000 covered by the decision adopted at a Council meeting on September 14th 2015.
In the earlier September meeting, “Portugal expressed openness, in line with the proposal from the Commission, to cater for up to 4,500 seekers of international protection" even though this number was not relased to the media.
Initially, Portugal was to receive 1,500 refugees but this number has risen proportionally as more enter Europe.
According to a statement in mid-September, the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker anounced that Portugal is to receive 3,074 refugees camped in Italy and Greece.
When asked about the number of refugees that Portugal will receive the light of today's decision, the minister said there was "practically no change from what had been discussed at the last council of ministers meeting," so the country will receive about three thousand people from the 120,000 refugees and total of "around 4,500 - 5,000."
The use of majority voting to push ahead with the burden-sharing scheme is a rare move in the EC that normally acts by consensus on sensitive issues. It has amplified tensions over the refugee crisis and divided commmunity members.
Syrian, Iraqi and Eritrean asylum-seekers would qualify for the programme, but the logistics have yet to be worked out.
On Monday, the Hungarian parliament passed a law to enable its army to use rubber bullets, tear gas and nets against migrants having previously taken steps to close its borders with Serbia, Croatia and Romania to halt the flow.
The EC response has set one bloc of members against another and is close to futile with 3,000 - 4,000 migrants arriving in Greece every day of the week, between 90,000 and 120,000 a month.
The new ‘resettlement by quota’ plan will cover a month’s worth at the current rate of arrival with some 3,111,752 refugees waiting in the wings in Turkey and Lebanon – the equivalent of 259,000 a month for a full year.
