Europe – Migrants – EU – Relocation
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker’s flagship plan to stem Europe’s migration crisis by redistributing refugees around the bloc risks crumbling as EU states balk at sharing the burden, diplomats, officials and experts have told AFP.
Since adopting the scheme last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from frontline states Greece and Italy, European Union countries have moved at a snail’s pace, taking in just 500 people.
Having pushed through his pet project for easing a crisis that saw more than one million people flood Europe’s shores last year, former Luxembourg premier Juncker last month vowed “not to give up” on the scheme.
But two EU diplomats, an official from an EU country, an analyst, and a person working on relocation spoke of growing doubts the plan will succeed in the face of the reluctance of many governments in the 28-nation bloc.
“I think people are afraid it’s going to fail,” one diplomat told AFP. “Some are losing hope and some are exploiting this loss of hope.”
European sources blame the delays on a series of factors: governments trying to screen terrorists in the wake of the Paris attacks, a lack of housing and education for asylum seekers, and logistical problems over chartering planes.
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