E.U. Proposes Quota System to Address Migration Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/world/europe/european-union-migration-refugees-quota-proposal.html

Version 0 of 1.

BRUSSELS — After months of criticism that it had been too slow and timid in addressing the flood of migrants heading toward its southern shores, the European Union authorities moved on Wednesday to spread the burden of the crisis among member states.

But the plan laid out in Brussels ran into immediate opposition from a number of countries that do not want to accept large numbers of refugees.

At the same time, European Union officials continued to draw up plans to take a more aggressive role in stopping ships bearing migrants across the Mediterranean and fighting the human smuggling networks that are flourishing in Libya, the main transport hub.

The union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, signaled that she did not envision the use of European ground troops in Libya to pursue human smugglers. But that question, floated during the debate over how to proceed, may be settled only in coming days or weeks as governments hash out what military support they are willing to provide to the effort.

The issue of how to stop the flow of refugees and absorb those who make it to Italy or other southern nations has emerged as one of the most challenging facing the European Union.

Strong anti-immigration sentiment has helped fuel the rise of nationalist, populist political movements in many nations. Continued economic problems across much of the Continent have left many nations cautious about taking on new costs. And proposals for military actions against smuggling have met with a cautious response.

The resulting slow response has highlighted the limits of the bloc’s ability to mobilize in unison to confront big problems. In this case, Britain, Hungary and the Czech Republic signaled opposition to the quota plan even before it had been formally proposed.

As part of a so-called European Agenda on Migration, the quota system would primarily help Greece, Italy and Malta, which are among the main arrival points for the large number of migrants making the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean. Hundreds of thousands are expected to chance the crossing this year; an estimated 1,800 people have died so far.

A separate plan, to be discussed on Monday by European Union foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels, will address the use of military force aimed at preventing trafficking by destroying vessels before they leave North Africa.

European Union leaders are expected to decide in June on the plan for quotas, which calls for the 28 member states to take in numbers of migrants relative to the states’ size and economic circumstances.

Ms. Mogherini said the migration proposals represented a “bold agenda” that should “address the plight of those escaping from wars, persecution and poverty.” Migration, she said, “is a shared responsibility” for all member states.

Gianni Pittella, an Italian lawmaker at the European Parliament, said the announcement showed “Europe is waking up” after “a shameful delay.”

John Dalhuisen, the director for Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International, said the European Commission had taken “a first step in shifting its Fortress Europe attitude towards the refugee crisis.”

A senior United Nations refugee agency official called the European Commission proposal “a great breakthrough” at a time of record levels of displacement worldwide.

“Solidarity among E.U. member states in the approach is the only way that a problem of this nature can be tackled,” said Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection at the United Nations refugee agency.

Theresa May, the British home secretary, took a sharply different view. “Such an approach would only strengthen the incentives for criminal gangs to keep plying their evil trade — and reduce the incentive of member states to develop their own effective asylum systems,” she wrote in an opinion article in Wednesday’s issue of The Times of London.

Her criticism followed comments a day earlier from Martin Povejsil, the Czech ambassador to the European Union, who suggested that his country would resist mandatory plans to accept migrants.

The British, Irish and Danes have the option not to participate in a quota system under existing agreements with the European Union, but others, including the Czechs and other Eastern and Central Europeans, would need to try to mount enough opposition to block approval.

That is seen as unlikely to succeed, because the plan is expected to have the backing of much larger member states like Italy, France and Germany, which should be able to push the measure through in the European Union’s weighted voting system.