The plan unveiled by the European Commission last month to help Italy and Greece deal with an influx of migrants will probably have to wait longer than expected to be implemented.
European Council sources told Times of Malta that there was little chance of the plan being approved by the end of this month, because many countries were still opposing it.
The Commission was expecting the plan to be approved by the EU’s home affairs ministers next week and rubber-stamped by EU leaders during a summit meeting the week after.
However, resistance to the plan is increasing, with a number of countries, including Germany and France, opposing the way migrants are to be distributed.
“It will be a miracle if the plan is approved this month,” a Commission source said. “Most probably, the discussion will have to wait till September.”
According to the Commission’s proposals, an emergency mechanism provided in the EU treaties will be triggered for Italy and Greece to relocate about 40,000 Eritreans and Somalis now residing in the two countries.
It will be a miracle if the plan is approved this month. Most probably, the discussion will have to wait till September
Malta was left out of the proposal, because Brussels insisted that the island was not facing any emergency situation at this moment in time.
In line with the proposed plan, Malta will have to take about 300 migrants from Italy and Greece. The Commission has said it would be ready to put Malta on the same level of protection as Rome and Athens if it faced similar sudden influxes of migrants.
The plan also envisages a separate resettlement programme so that, in a two-year span, the EU’s member states will take about 20,000 asylum seekers. This is the first time the EU is proposing an intra-EU resettlement programme. However, even here there is opposition.
While many of the EU’s member states agree on the need for more solidarity, member states have difficulty agreeing on specific migrant numbers they need to host.
While Italy, together with Malta, is wholeheartedly supporting the Commission proposal, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is faced with a new problem.
Mayors of northern regions, namely Lombardy, Veneto and Liguria, are not willing to host any more migrants in their regions. This position is being particularly promoted by the anti-migration party, the Northern League.
Mr Renzi has criticised the stand taken by the northern regions and has said that while Italy demanded more help from the EU, it was ironic that parts of his own country were refusing to share the migration burden.