Eastern European leaders defy EU effort to set refugee quota

A young Syrian migrant waits in a holding centre for immigrants in the Spanish enclave
Of Melilla in north Africa. Photograph: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty
Central and eastern European leaders have defied attempts by Brussels and Berlin to
impose refugee quotas ahead of two days of high-stakes summits in Brussels to try to
decide on what already looks like a vain attempt to limit the flow Of refugees and
migrantslll into Europe.
After months of being consistently behind the curve in grappling with the EU's huge
migration crisis, interior ministers will meet on Tuesday to focus on the highly divisive
issue of mandatory quotas to share refugees across the union. There will then be an
emergency summit of leaders on Wednesday.
Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign minister, who is chairing Tuesday's meeting,
failed to reach a breakthrough in Prague on Monday with his counterparts from the
Czech Republic121 Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia.
The Czech government wrote to Brussels arguing that compulsory quotas were illegal
and that it could take the issue to the European court of justice in Luxembourg(31, while
the anti-immigration Hungarian government brought in new laws authorising the army
to use non-lethal force against refugees massing on its borders.


"There are still a few problems to solve," said Asselborn. "We still have 20 hours."
"The terrain is still very uncertain," said a senior source from Luxembourg. "We don't yet
have agreement. It's going to be very, very difficult."
This week's fresh attempt to agree on a quota system comes amid the deepest divisions
between western and eastern Europe since the former Soviet-bloc countries joined the
EU a decade ago.
At issue is the paltry figure of 66,000 refugees being shared across the EU after being
moved from Italy and Greece. They have already agreed to share 40,000 and were to
redistribute a further 120,000. But 54,000 of those were from Hungary151, which passed a
law on Monday allowing the army to use non-lethal force on migrants and whose
hardline government wants no part of the scheme.
y16 alone this year and given that up to a million people are expected to enter German
that Frontex, the EU's border agency, says 500,000 are currently preparing to leave
Turkey for the EU, the figures being fought over in Brussels are risible.
But the numbers are not the real issue. The row is about power and sovereignty. In the
end it seems that all countries will join in sharing refugees, with the exception of Britain,
which has opted out Of the scheme(71. The Other two countries with opt-outs —
Ireland and Denmark — have agreed to take part, leaving the UK isolated.

For the east Europeans, the vexed question is one of who takes the decisions: whether
Brussels and Berlin set their quota or whether they decide themselves to take in refugees.
They feel they are being bullied and blackmailed by the Germans, who have threatened to
withhold EU funding for the recalcitrants for the supporters Of quotas, especially in the European commission181, the numbers are also less important. For Brussels, the key factor is that the start of mandatory sharing would mark the first tentative steps towards common EU policies on refugees and set a precedent to be built on.
Germany is the biggest and strongest backer Of the proposed new regime, not least since
it is a replica of the system practised in Germany. It has a well-functioning federalised
scheme that spreads and funds the burden across the 16 German lånder (or states), based
on a formula that takes account of local wealth, unemployment rates and the population
density of immigrants.
In effect, the European commission is proposing to extend the German model to the EU.
If there is no consensus on Tuesday, the pro-quotas camp could push the issue to a
qualified majority vote, which they would comfortably win. But that could open up deep
divisions and cause major political damage.

It would mean forcing countries to take in people they don't want and send people to
countries where they do not want to go, said an EU official, who believed a vote on such
an incendiary issue would be counter-productive.
The summit on Wednesday is to focus on how to keep people out rather than how to
bring them in, while avoiding the mayhem of recent weeks in the Balkans and central
Europe, where borders have been opening and closing on a daily basis in an atmosphere
of panic and chaos.
The summit will concentrate on ways of stemming the flow from Turkey and Libya and
helping the transit countries Of the Balkans — in effect, proposing to bribe neighbouring
countries to keep the migrants from reaching the EU.
Germany has been admired for its open-door policy on Syrian refugees. It is also being
blamed for the mess because of unilateral decision-taking that has sown confusion and
led to kneejerk reactions in the countries en route to Germany from the Balkans —


Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. There is also bewilderment about what
Germany's policy is.
Croatia border clashes as country says it cannot
take more refugees
Since April, when the drowning of 400 migrants in the Mediterranean raised the alarm,
EU governments have staged several emergency meetings in response to horrible events
— such as the death Of a toddler on a Turkish beach191 and the asphyxiation Of 70
migrants in a sealed lorry in Austria.
The governments have bickered and quarreled, failing to agree on coherent policies.
Only the European commission has delivered a semblance of a joined-up strategy,
including the plan for mandatory refugee quotas.
There is talk of beefing up Frontex. But so far, the 26 countries of the Schengen free-
travel area have supplied only 64 extra personnel to the borders agency, seconded for six
months. And, while reinforcing life-saving naval operations in the Mediterranean, the
countries have also failed to redeem all their pledges Of logistical support for the
msslon.
There is lots Of talk Of funding capacities in Turkey and building "reception centres" or
refugee camps in Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. But senior diplomats say these
discussions are sketchy and vague. The commissioner in charge, Dimitris Avramopoulos,
has admitted that the target countries are reluctant to host the EU-proposed camps.

Citation: Traynor, Ian. "Eastern European leaders defy EU effort to set refugee quotas." 21 Sep. 2015. Guardian New and Media Limited. 22 Sep. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/21/eastern-european-leaders-defy-eu-effort-to-set-refugee-quotas>

Response: This article deals with the migration problem from Syria to Europe. The European Union, while trying to organize the migrants and create quotas for each country, their main goal is to stop the constant flow of migrants. Personally, I commend the European Union for taking action to help the migrants who are already in Europe, however, their main goal is not really to help, but rather to stop them from coming at all. I am biased in that, as an American, I have never experience the persecution that the Syrians are experiencing now, so my heart goes out to them. However, I also understand that the European Union is trying keep the economy of all the countries that are part of the EU in a stable place. For example, Germany has welcomed migrants with open arms, but it has been predicted that approximately one million people will have entered Germany in only one year. While their desire to help is admirable, they do not have the resources to support an extra million bodies (be it jobs, money, food, housing) especially since the growth of their population was so exponential. The author is trying to point the reader into the direction of understanding the EU's side of this issue, and not just the devastating state that the migrant are in if they are not helped