Relocation – nice idea, little behind

The graph shows how many refugees individual European Union member states actually have resettled into another recipient country. In September, 2015, the EU decided by a majority vote to resettle about 98,000 refugees from Greece and Italy into other EU states. But by July, 2017, only roughly 29.000 refugees actually had moved from one country to another in the aftermath of this decision. Even Germany had taken in only 30% of the number of refugees it had promised to accept under the terms of the resettlement accord. Thus, even a relatively small agreement at the EU level flunked the test of actual practice.

A brief expert advisory opinion issued by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Croatia office entitled “The Relocation of Refugees in the European Union” provides background information and statistics.