Brussels has accused EU member states of offering a “measly” level of funding for efforts in north Africa to halt the migration crisis.



The European commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said the €200m produced so far was too little. “The member states need to get serious on this,” he said.

On Wednesday the European court of justice backed attempts by Austria and Slovenia to deport asylum seekers back to their point of entry in the EU. The court ruled that a law requiring refugees to seek asylum in the first country they reach applied even in exceptional circumstances. The case could affect the future of several hundred people who arrived in 2015-16.

But Avramopoulos said he was pleased by an increase in the number of refugees relocated from Italian and Greek camps to other states, and a sense of growing solidarity within the bloc.

A record number of refugees were transferred in June, and the total number of relocations under an initiative agreed in 2015 now stands at 24,676 – 16,803 from Greece and 7,873 from Italy – with “almost all member states pledging and transferring regularly”, the commission said.

“Looking at the results achieved so far, one thing is very clear: relocation works if the political will is there,” Avramopoulos said. “What we need now is a final push to achieve our common goal of relocating the vast majority of the asylum seekers present and eligible in Greece and Italy by September.

“Italy in particular is under enormous pressure and I call on all member states to further step up their relocation efforts from Italy. The EU won’t leave countries with an external border alone and the commission will continue to ensure that all member states comply with their legal obligations when it comes to relocation.”

Avramopoulos said infringement procedures against the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were continuing after the three countries refused to take part in the relocation initiative.

“None of the arguments they put forward justify that they have not implicated the relocation decision,” he said. “Do these countries really want to be part of this project?”

There are 4,800 people currently awaiting relocation from Greece, and the commissioner said the number was likely to increase to 6,800. In Italy, such is the level of incoming migration, there are signs the authorities are being overwhelmed. Around 25,000 Eritreans have arrived in Italy since the beginning of 2016, of whom only 10,000 have been registered for relocation.

Malta, Latvia and Norway have taken in their full allocations, and Sweden, which only started relocation in June, will soon have taken almost 60% of its allocation. The UK, which can opt out on parts of European asylum policy, has chosen not to participate in the scheme.

The commission said an arrangement between the EU and Turkey under which Turkey acts as a buffer to those seeking to settle in the bloc in return for economic aid was working well, with a gradual increase in resettlements.

The EU-Turkey deal agreed in March last year provides that for every Syrian returned to Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU. The total number of resettlements under the deal now stands at 7,806.