European Union member states will take in 40,000 migrants from the Middle East and Africa currently in Italy and Greece, according to a leaked plan that emerged Thursday.
According to a draft communiqué seen by Reuters, European leaders will enact a two-year plan for volunteer EU countries to temporarily spread a total of 40,000 migrants across multiple nations. The final statement will propose creating criteria to determine which countries will participate and how many refugees each will accept. The document stops short of creating national quotas for each country.
The agreement is intended to alleviate pressure on asylum infrastructures in Greece and Italy that are buckling under the record high volume of migration across the Mediterranean Sea. At least 153,000 people have sought refugee in Europe this year, and almost 2,000 have died making the dangerous trip.
A ship belonging to Italian authorities approaches one of three migrant rafts some 120 miles off the Italian coast, about 40 miles from Libya, on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliItalian authorities are seen during an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast that rescued more than 100 migrants coming from Libya on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliA boat of migrants that set off from Libya, as seen from a ship belonging to Italian authorities, during a rescue operation on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliA member of Italy's Guardia di Finanza brings a migrant aboard after they were rescued from an inflatable boat, which originated in Libya and was found some 120 miles off the Italian coast in the Mediterranean, on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliImmigrants from Bangladesh on a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn officer with Italy's financial police speaks to colleagues on a radio from the command cabin during a migrant rescue operation—which also involved the Italian and Irish navies—some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliSmoke billows from a migrant boat, set ablaze by Italian authorities so other smugglers don't use it, after they rescued more than 100 people some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliRescued immigrants are covered with thermal sheets in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn African man disembarks a ship belonging to Italy's financial police after being rescued with about 100 other people in an operation some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio PiscitelliAn African boy stands covered with a thermal sheet in Lampedusa after being rescued some 120 miles off the Italian coast on June 6, 2015.Giulio Piscitelli
