European Commission to unveil options for asylum reforms

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission is due to unveil options for reforms to the way EU countries handle asylum claims in response to the migrant crisis.

The move is in part a reaction to the difficulties faced by Greece and Italy in coping with large numbers arriving from the Middle East and Africa.

The current EU system is widely thought to have failed because of the influx of a million people through Greece.

Under the rules refugees should claim asylum in the country they arrive in.

But the so-called Dublin regulation proved unworkable when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the door to Syrian refugees last August.

Greece and Italy had already stopped registering every arrival, but the daily journey of thousands of irregular migrants from Turkey to the Greek islands meant that most were allowed to continue their route through the Balkans.

Eventually several countries put up fences and border controls in an attempt to halt the influx.

The European Commission is expected to suggest either a modest change that preserves the current system but adds a "fairness" provision so a country struggling to cope can get help.

A second, more radical option would be to scrap the existing rules and distribute refugees around Europe. However, several countries do not want to see wholesale changes to the system.

The UK and many eastern European states have made clear they want to keep the system which allows them to return asylum seekers to the country where they entered the EU.

Whichever proposal is finally agreed, the UK cannot be forced to take asylum seekers as it has opt-outs from EU asylum policies, BBC Europe correspondent Damian Grammaticas explains.

Under an EU deal aimed at cutting off the migrant route through the Balkans, Greece has begun deporting migrants to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if their claim is rejected.

However, the Athens government paused the operation on Tuesday, April 5 a day after the first boats took 202 people to the Turkish port of Dikili.

Hundreds more are due to be removed later this week, but the migrants are arriving in Greece faster than they can be sent back.