EU plans penalties for refusing asylum seekers

Migrant Crisis: EU plans penalties for refusing asylum seekers

Europe’s migration system has been placed under exceptional pressure in the recent months as asylum seekers continue to flood into neighboring European countries for safety. Yet some countries accepting refugees have experienced disproportionate numbers of asylum claims, while other countries continue to refuse refugees.

To combat this problem, the European Commission has proposed harsh financial penalties ($290,000 per person) to be imposed on countries that refuse asylum seekers. Since a deal with Turkey has already been made to reduce migrant numbers, the EU Commission is hoping to obtain support from most member states.

Under this proposal, the refugees would still have to claim asylum in their new countries. The countries receiving more than 150% of its “fair share” of asylum seekers (calculated by the country’s population and economy), then the relocation scheme would kick in. Countries that have mainly carried the burden of the massive influx of refugees would receive the money that the countries refusing refugees would be fined. Greece is an example of a country that has carried much of the burden, when around 50,000 migrants and refugees were left stranded in Greece after fences and imposed border controls in the neighboring countries were established.

The aim for this proposal is to control for fairness within European countries in handling the influx of migrants. The UK, Ireland, British government and Denmark will not take part. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic all disagree with the proposal (some were even angered by it), but the quota plan was agreed and these four countries were outvoted.

Jessy Krempp

Article: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36202490