Spain criticized for not taking in promised number of refugees

The Spanish government has been criticized for failing to take in refugees from Syria and Iraq over the past six months.

The Spanish government agreed to take in 15,000 refugees under the European Union's distribution plan in September 2015 to help relieve the pressure of the tens of thousands of refugees who were arriving in Greece and Italy. However, figures published by the European Commission on Tuesday showed that so far 18 refugees have been relocated in Spain.

The 18 refugees arrived in Spain in the second half of 2015, while there was no arrivals in the first three and a half months of 2016, despite Rajoy's government promised in March to take in 467 refugees by the end of the month.

"Spain has all of the necessary conditions in order to increase its numbers, but must assume a greater responsibility and commitment," the El Pais newspaper cited Francesca Friz-Prguda, a representative of the UN refugee agency UNHCR as saying on Wednesday.

EU sources criticized Rajoy's acting government for a "lack of willingness" to speed up the process, according to the newspaper.

The Spanish government says the UNHCR has yet to inform them of the process of files of refugees destined for Spain and questions the slow EU distribution process, although neighboring Portugal, which has a much smaller population, has already taken in 10 times more refugees. Enditem