European opposition could sink Brussels migrant plan
Refugees in Mediterranean
(BRUSSELS) - Brussels may have to water down controversial plans for quotas to spread Mediterranean refugees around Europe amid growing opposition, unexpectedly led by France, officials said Tuesday.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled the plan last week in a bid to make the rest of the 28-nation EU share the burden of frontline states like Italy, Greece and Malta.
At first it was the usual suspects like Britain that opposed the plan, which would see binding quotas for redistributing asylum seekers based on national criteria such as economic size, population, unemployment and the number of refugees already taken.
But France has made a dramatic U-turn since the weekend, meaning that Brussels can no longer count on the support of the EU's second most powerful member after Germany.
President Francois Hollande said Tuesday there was "no question" of migrant quotas in Europe, echoing comments by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Saturday.
Spain quickly followed suit and now 10 EU nations out of 28 say they oppose the quotas.
"The idea of quotas has been received very coolly," a European source told AFP, adding that "that will have to be taken into account."
- 'Working with member states' -
European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud insisted it was just a "first idea" and that it would consult with EU nations before formally tabling the plan next Wednesday.
"We're working very closely with the member states, we are listening to them. There will be ample opportunity to discuss with each and every member state the criteria and I imagine it will be something they will very much like to discuss," she said.
The quotas are part of a wider package rushed through by Brussels after nearly 800 migrants died in April in the deadliest shipwreck since the Syrian war triggered the refugee crisis.
In an unprecedented crisis on Europe's southern shores, around 5,000 people have died in the past 18 months attempting to cross the Mediterranean in flimsy dinghies and rickety fishing boats in a bid to flee war and poverty.
On Monday, EU ministers approved an EU naval force to fight people smugglers and possibly destroy their boats in Libyan waters.
But with the migrant issue politically toxic in many European countries with the rise of far-right parties, military action has been far easier to agree on than any resettlement of asylum seekers.
The EU has proposed relocating some migrants who land on southern European shores, who until now have had their asylum claims dealt with by the country where they arrive or which picks them up at sea.
It is also proposing to resettle 20,000 refugees, largely Syrians, from camps outside the EU under a deal with the UN's refugee agency.
- Plan could be 'massacred' -
Britain -- which has an opt-out from the plans -- and Hungary were first out of the blocks against the plan, followed by Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
But the real turning point came at the weekend when France's Valls spoke out, followed by Spain on Monday.
Brussels sought to play down the dissension on Tuesday, with Bertaud adding that the Commission was "happy to count on the support of France" for the wider relocation plan.
A compromise is possible on this point, a second European source said, on condition that the EU "strictly limits" which countries would benefit most from assistance, namely Italy and Greece, and which nationalities of refugees would be covered by the system, mainly Syrians and Eritreans.
The migration plan would also include stricter measures for economic or illegal migrants who did not qualify for protection, the source said.
Ideally the EU would like to see the plan voted through unanimously when European leaders meet in June, although in theory they can pass it through complex qualified majority vote rules.
But the chances of a deal in its current form were far off, sources said.
"It's very likely that the project will be massacred," like the last plan after the Lampedusa tragedy in 2013 when hundreds of migrants died off the coast of Italy," a commission source told AFP last week.
European Agenda on Migration - background guide