Netherlands suggests only refugees registered near war zones be relocated

The Netherlands will recommend to EU justice and home affairs ministers next week that only refugees who have registered in safe countries close to the war zones from which they are fleeing should be considered for resettlement in European countries.

The Dutch will tell ministers convening in Brussels on Monday for an “extraordinary” review of the migration crisis that such an early registration system should be the key element of any long-term relocation scheme of the kind outlined in Strasbourg on Wednesday by Jean-Claude Juncker.

In a six-page briefing to MPs, junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff said the plan would involve drawing up agreements between the EU and countries in the region considered safe, so that “official reporting centres” could be set up there.

Refugees attempting to escape conflict in their own countries and who managed to reach these safe havens would be given residence permits for a specific EU country, and would not be allowed to travel on from the reporting centre to any other European destination.

The Dutch say this could lead to a fairer distribution of migrants than the so-called Dublin system under which people must claim asylum in the state where they first enter the EU, a system Mr Juncker suggested on Wednesday should be reviewed.

As stressed by Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre in its analysis, We Need to Talk about Dublin, the priorities of individual countries and of EU institutions are not always the same. "The EU comprises other relevant actors in this area, including the European Commission and, more recently, the European Parliament and the CJEU [European Court of Justice], whose positions may or may not converge with those of some or all member states," the paper said.

Mr Dijkhoff said the Dutch proposal was an acknowledgment of the fact the EU was under growing pressure, with member states being asked to accept their share of an additional 120,000 refugees, pressure that was “unlikely to lessen in the short term”.

Under Mr Juncker’s breakdown, the Netherlands, which has already agreed to accept 2,047 refugees, is being asked to accept 7,214 more.

In addition, the Dutch say they will contribute an extra €110 million to countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which are struggling to shelter the bulk of the migrants.

Opposition parties have been scathing about the plan. “All we are doing it pushing the problem further away from ourselves,” said Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer.

“Two or three countries are currently helping about four million refugees. That means our €110 million represents 25 cents per refugee.”

Greenlinks leader Jessie Klaveren said the plan abandoned the principle that “people who knock on our door because they are fleeing war and violence should be offered a place of safety”.