Despite criticism from rights groups that the EU is violating international humanitarian law by striving to curb immigration, the bloc has applauded itself for reducing arrivals by more than 70 percent in 2016 from the peak in 2015 when more than a million people entered in an uncontrolled flow.
The influx of immigrants in 2015 caught the bloc by surprise, alarmed the EU’s 500 million people and fuelled support for anti-immigration, populist and nationalist groups. The bloc’s asylum system broke down under the sheer numbers and the cherished Schengen zone of control-free travel was strained as member states introduced emergency border checks.
EU states have since sought to agree on how to change their asylum laws, with bitter disputes deepening east-west divides. Earlier this week, the European Parliament agreed its own stance on asylum reform, including an option to cut EU funds to states that refuse to host asylum-seekers reaching the bloc.
It proposed moving away from the current rule mandating that the first country through which a person enters the EU must handle his or her asylum request, saying it puts too much burden on frontline states like Italy, Greece, Malta or Spain.
Southern frontline states want a scheme that would automatically lift people off their soil during periods of exceptionally high immigration and take them elsewhere in the EU. Western countries like Germany and Sweden, which eventually receive most of the refugees, have said more of the burden must be shared and that solidarity was needed.
Eastern EU countries like Poland and Hungary have refused to admit anyone, saying doing so could compromise national security and affect the traditional composition of their populations.
