Syrian asylum seekers in Greece have refused to be relocated to Luxembourg, pushing the European Union’s scheme for migrant quotas close to collapse.

The Times understands that plans to relocate 30 Syrians from Greece to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, one of Europe’s wealthiest countries, have been shelved because “very many” of them want to go to Germany instead.

Diplomats report that there are also problems rounding up migrants to go to Estonia because Italian and Greek authorities are reluctant to force people to go where they do not want to.

“The quotas are not so people can go asylum shopping,” one EU diplomat said. “If you say you are escaping war, you can’t refuse to go to Luxembourg. It is making a joke out