The European Commission has presented the following measures to respond to the current refugee crisis and to prepare for future challenges:

• Emergency relocation proposal of 120,000 people from Greece, Italy and Hungary. The relocation would be done according to a mandatory distribution key using objective and quantifiable criteria, such as the size of the population, GDP, etc. Belgium would welcome 4564 persons. This number of 120,000 people will be on top of the 40,000 that the Commission proposed in May to relocate from Greece and Italy. (More information in the factsheet: European solidarity – a refugee relocation system).

• A structured solidarity mechanism (as announced in the European Agenda on Migration) which can be triggered any time by the Commission to help any EU-Member State experiencing a crisis situation and extreme pressure on its asylum system as a result of a large and disproportionate inflow of third country nationals.

• A common European list of safe countries of origin, which will allow for swifter processing of individual asylum applications from candidates originating from countries considered to be safe across the EU, and for faster returns if the individual assessments of the applications confirm no right of asylum. The listed countries are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. (More information in the factsheet: An EU ‘Safe countries of origin’ list)

• Actions to make the return policies of Member States more effective, such as a common Return Handbook and an EU Action Plan on Return.

• Communication on Public Procurement rules for Refugee Support Measures, which provides guidance to national, regional and local authorities on how to ensure compliance with EU law while procuring housing, supplies and services to asylum seekers.

• Addressing the external dimension of the refugee crisis, including renewed efforts to support diplomatic initiatives and find political solutions to the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Libya.

• A €1.8 billion Trust Fund for Africa to help tackle the root causes for migration in Africa. (More information in the facsheet: A European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa).

For more information, please see the full press release.

You can also consult the following documents:

• MEMO/15/5597: Refugee Crisis: European Commission takes decisive action - Questions and answers
• A European Agenda on Migration
• European Agenda on Migration – four months on
• Hotspots