Roundup: EU says relocation of asylum seekers remains unsatisfactory

The European Commission here on Wednesday adopted its latest progress report on the European Union (EU)'s emergency relocation and resettlement schemes, saying the progress on the relocation and resettlement of refugees remained unsatisfactory.

The report, the third of this kind, assessed actions taken on relocation and resettlement up to May 13 since the commission's second report.

According to a commission press release, despite signs of increased preparation for future action, few re-locations have taken place since mid-April, though the pipeline of future re-locations has been strengthened.

"Progress has been made on resettlement as part of the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, but must be accelerated to avoid migrants returning to irregular routes. Greater efforts on relocation are increasingly urgent in view of the humanitarian situation in Greece and the increase in arrivals to Italy," it said.

According to the Commission, in its first report on relocation and resettlement on March 16, the Commission set a target of relocating at least 20,000 people by mid-May. This target has not been met.

Only 355 additional people have been relocated during the latest reporting period, bringing the total number of those relocated to 1,500. Relocation efforts were again made by "only a few" EU member states and associated Schengen States, said the Commission.

In the latest report, the Commission urged member states to put effective planning in place to increase their pledges and reduce the response time on relocation requests.

The Commission called on member states with large allocations to engage more actively in relocation and pledge according to the size of their allocation. The Commission also called for all actors to step up the relocation of unaccompanied minors.

Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said the EU side "cannot be satisfied with the results achieved so far. More has to be done, and swiftly."

"We need to quickly respond to the urgent humanitarian situation in Greece and prevent any deterioration of the situation in Italy. The planning we see for upcoming re-locations must be delivered. I urge all member states to get ready to move at last," he said.

He also called for increasing resettlements, not only from Turkey, but also from other countries such as Lebanon and Jordan.

"Our recent progress in breaking the smugglers' business model is only sustainable if a safe legal channel also opens for asylum seekers. It is important to speed up the pace and deliver fully on the 1:1 mechanism as part of the EU-Turkey statement," he said.

Based on Commission proposals, EU member states agreed last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, and to assist the two countries in dealing with the pressures of the refugee crisis.

With regard to the resettlement, 6,321 people were resettled by May 13 under the resettlement scheme reached last July. These people were received by 16 states.

The Commission said the number of resettlements from Turkey continued to increase as member states assess files referred to them by Turkey, via the UNHCR.

Since April 4, 177 Syrians have been resettled from Turkey. Sweden has received the largest number, followed by Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Lithuania. Another 723 applications have already been accepted and the applicants are waiting to be transferred to seven different EU member states.

In total, 19 member states and one associated state have indicated they foresee over 12,000 places for resettlements from Turkey. Around 2,000 resettlements are currently planned between May and July 2016, subject to a corresponding number of Syrians being returned from Greece under the 1:1 scheme.

Under the EU-Turkey agreement struck March 18, for every Syrian national returned from Greece to Turkey, another will be resettled to the EU directly from Turkey. This 1:1 mechanism aims to deter migrants from travelling in dangerous conditions across the Aegean Sea by offering instead an orderly and legal resettlement process.

Last May, the Commission proposed a European resettlement scheme which was adopted by the Council in July 2015.

To avoid displaced persons in need of protection having to resort to the criminal networks of smugglers and traffickers, the resettlement program provides legal and safe pathways to enter the EU. The agreed scheme will see over 22,000 people in need of international protection resettled from outside of the EU to the EU Member States. Endit