About 150,000 migrants fleeing war and poverty are estimated to have reached Europe especially in Greece and Italy who sought other EU countries to share the burden. EU states are willing to help but differ in the details of redistribution. The Spanish home affairs minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz feels the relocation plan will attract more and more migrants to Europe.
The Mediterranean shipwreck in April which claimed 800 lives prompted the European Commission to relocate 40,000 people. 32,000 of them will be relocated before October and the rest, by the end of the year.
Country | Asylum Seekers | Migrants |
Germany | 10,500 | 1,600 |
France | 6,752 | 2,375 |
Ireland | 600 | 520 |
Denmark |
| 1000 |
Britain |
| 2200 |
*The UK, Denmark and Ireland were allowed to opt out of the programme under EU treaties but Ireland, Denmark and Britain have agreed to accept refugees.
People continue to arrive from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq and so the condition of housing them has deteriorated to cramming 700 in a place meant for 200. The buildings and fields are filled with garbage without proper water and toilet facilities. Elisabetta Faga, MSF emergency coordinator in Lesbos says the condition is not acceptable.
