Brussels set to propose resettlement of up to 200,000 refugees from Mideast

Brussels will propose a large­scale refugee resettlement scheme early next year in a move that could see 200,000 migrants distributed across the bloc directly from camps in countries
such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.

The European Commission plans to propose a “structural EU­wide resettlement scheme” in March as part of a host of reforms aimed at stemming the flow of people from Turkey and
nearby countries into the EU.

Massive resettlement is seen as part of a quid pro quo of any deal with Turkey, which the EU is hoping to persuade to play a bigger role in checking the flow of migrants to Europe.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, met Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, in Istanbul yesterday and promised her government would breathe new life into the country’s
stalled accession negotiations with the EU in exchange for its help on the migration issue.

“Germany is ready this year to open chapter 17, and fix benchmarks for 23 and 24,” Ms Merkel said at a press conference with Turkey’s prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, referring to
three areas ­ or chapters ­ of EU law that make up the membership talks.

A candidate for EU membership since 1999, Turkey has opened only 14 out of 35 chapters since talks began in 2005. It has closed only one.

Ms Merkel, however, stopped short of endorsing a list of separate demands to which Turkey appears to have tied its support for the EU plan, including lifting visa restrictions for
Turkish nationals by next summer and a change in the EU’s stance on the 1915 massacres of Ottoman Armenians.

Last week, EU member states agreed a package of up to €3bn in aid for Turkey to cope with its 2.5m refugees, mostly from neighbouring Syria. Mr Erdogan has poured scorn on
Europe’s inability to cope with the influx. “They announce they’ll take in 30,000­40,000 refugees and then they are nominated for the Nobel for that,” the Turkish leader said on Friday.
“We are hosting 2.5m refugees but nobody cares.”

Officials will base the EU plan on recommendations from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which has called on the EU to resettle roughly 200,000 refugees directly
from countries outside the EU, such as Lebanon and Turkey, a tenfold increase from the 20,000 refugees agreed this summer.

 

By: Duncan Robinson ­