Migrants board a train in the village of Nickelsdorf in early hours on September 5, 2015, to head to Salzburg on the German-Austrian border. | JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images Sanctions weighed for nations that refuse refugees No consensus was reached at a Saturday meeting of ministers.

LUXEMBOURG — The EU is considering imposing sanctions on countries that do not want to take part in a proposed new relocation scheme for 120,000 refugees, a senior diplomat told POLITICO, though the idea is being floated mainly to put pressure on reluctant countries.

The source refused to say whether the proposal was discussed in the informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers that took place in Luxembourg Saturday morning.

According to several media reports, an option under consideration is that countries that do not want to take in refugees would be offered an opt-out clause, but they would have to pay to use it. This sanction fund would then be used to support countries that do take part in the new relocation.

But a diplomat from Slovakia, one of the countries that opposes mandatory relocation schemes, said, “We do not want any payment, nor mandatory quotas… We need to prevent people from coming.” He said that Slovakia will not oppose decisions taken by the majority of EU countries.

The Slovak diplomat stressed that his country did not see the situation in the same way as Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orbán has been critical of Berlin’s decision to open the door to Syrian refugees.

Germany, for its part, stressed the need to quickly find solutions.

The German Foreign Affairs minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told reporters that the European Council scheduled for October 15 would be “too late” and that Europe should have a summit at an earlier date.

Ministers spent the informal meeting ministers “brainstorming” on possible ideas to find a solution for the humanitarian crisis, said another EU diplomat. “Ministers agree that they have to do something — the problem is what,” the source said.

Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, confirmed a lack of consensus.

“Discussion today was difficult, I admit that,” she said at a press conference wrapping up the summit.

One point of contention was the creation of hot-spots to identify refugees in countries outside the European Union, said Mogherini. The issue is complicated by three main factors, she added: the location, the resources and the guarantee that those who are entitled to be asylum seekers are then in fact accepted in Europe. And the funding for these hot-spots, she argued, “would require enormous resources from our side.”

The EU foreign affairs chief also stressed that “this is partially a migrant flow but it is mainly a refugee flow,” meaning the majority of those who arrive to Europe are entitled to stay. And now “we have started seeing also Palestinians in the flow” of refugees arriving.

She also repeated that the naval mission, Eunavfor Med, launched in May by Europe to cope with people smugglers, is ready to move from phase one (intelligence gathering) to the first part of phase two (operating in international waters).

For this, at least, she said: “I have found a large consensus."

The Italian Foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, echoed that sentiment, when leaving the summit, telling reporters that “it is possible to launch phase two by the end of the month.”

Yet some are skeptical.

“So far I have seen no results and the evidence is that people keep on coming,” said a diplomat from Eastern Europe.

As another diplomat from Britain said a few days ago: “the fear is that we can get stuck in the international water whereas this mission will be effective only if and when it will have the chance to get into Libyan waters.”

The ministers also discussed the future of the Dublin agreement, a key element of EU migration policy that requires asylum-seekers to be identified and stay in the country where they first arrive.

Said another EU diplomat, “Anyway, after the German decision and with the relocation system in place, [Dublin] is already a dead agreement.”