Collapse of the refugee relocation scheme
25.9.2017
Question for written answer E-005928-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D)
The Commission launched the European Agenda on Migration in 2015. As part of that agenda, 160 000 people were to be relocated in the EU. On 7 September 2017, Greece informed Spain that, of the over 50 000 people stranded there, ‘there is no one who meets the requirements laid down by the Commission in order to be eligible for the relocation scheme’.
Given that those people who arrived in Greece after the EU agreement with Turkey came into force (20 March 2016) are not eligible for the relocation scheme, given that nationals of countries with a rate of less than 75% acceptance of the need for international protection are also not eligible (with the acceptance rate for Iraqis standing at 73%, according to the UNHCR), and given that many of the people now in Greece meet the conditions laid down in the Geneva Convention:
- 1.Does the Commission believe that all the migrants in Greece who are entitled to international protection under the Geneva Convention have indeed already been relocated?
- 2.Does the Commission consider Iraq to be a safe country? If not, is it looking into the possibility of modifying the relocation scheme?