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2nd LD Writethru: EU ministers agree "by larger majority" to relocate 120,000 refugees

Xinhua, September 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

European Union (EU) ministers adopted a plan to relocate 120,000 migrants at an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council said on twitter that the EU ministers adopted the plan by larger majority of member states.

The European Committee made the proposal of redistribution in dealing with the rising refugee crisis, calling for relocating 160,000 migrants under a compulsory scheme.

EU ministers last Monday agreed on a plan to relocate 40,000 refugees from Italy and Greece.

However, several eastern European countries, namely Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, insisted their opposition to the compulsory quotas Monday when they met with representatives from Luxembourg, the current holder of the EU presidency.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, together with leaders of Germany and France, have been pressing all member states to support the Commission proposals. Endit