European Union Interior Ministers convened for an emergency session in Brussels Tuesday agreed to a plan to settle 120,000 people fleeing war-ridden territories throughout the continent over a two-year period.
The vote went through in spite of objections from some member states to a mandatory resettlement programme.
Finland was one of the member states that insisted that any plan to relocate asylum seekers should not be compulsory but based on voluntary action by participating countries.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary reportedly voted against the measure proposed by the European Commission. Finland was the only member to abstain. Poland, which previously opposed the proposal voted in favour of the relocation plan.
The European Commission initially proposed transferring 120,000 people from Hungary, Italy and Greece to other EU countries. EU heads of government must however first ratify Tuesday’s decision at a meeting t take place in Brussels Wednesday.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said that Tuesday’s agreement among Interior Ministers alone would not be sufficient to resolve the current situation. The organisation also noted that the number of asylum seekers covered by the deal is likely to increase significantly.
The United Nations has estimated that nearly 480,000 people have fled to Europe by sea this year and that close to 6,000 more are arriving on a daily basis.
