Brussels wants new refugee resettlement scheme, with 50.000 target

The EU Commission launched a new scheme for resettling migrants with a target of 50.000 being resettled over the next two years. The European Commissioner for migration and home affairs, Dimitris Avramopolous, declared that EU needs a new plan to provide viable, safe and legal alternatives to taking perilous irregular journeys. The last resettlement scheme was almost a failure, because its aim was to resettle 160.000 refugees from Italy and Greece across the bloc, but only around 29.000 refugees were relocated and some EU members (Hungary and Poland) refused to take part. The Commission proposed also a €500 million in financial support for the member state more involved in migrant flows. The last change proposed by the Commission is an update to the rules for the Schengen border-free travel zone, including the reintroduction of border controls in case of terrorism or internal security threats. Avramopoulos also declared that Bulgaria and Romania should join fully the Schengen area for security reasons.