A number of EU member states criticised for not respecting right of asylum

The European Commission criticized 19 EU member states, including France and Germany, for not respecting asylum rights.

Al Jazeera correspondent said that there is a tendency at an emergency summit in Brussels to adopt a number of mechanisms to minimise the division among Europeans with regard to the refugee issue.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said, just ahead of the summit, that it is about time that member states took their responsibilities.

The leaders of EU member states are discussing how to put a long-term strategy for addressing the influx of refugees at a time when they are already in the process of approving the Commission’s plan to relocate 120,000 currently present in the European Union’s territory.

On her part, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Frederica Mogherini, expressed her hope that EU leaders reach an agreement during their meeting in Brussels, warning that divisions over the crisis undermine Europe’s credibility.

Mogherini said in a press conference that confronting the refugee crisis entails working on an external side” by increasing the EU’s financial contribution to relief agencies operating in Syria and its neighbouring countries.

Avoiding Division

On his part, the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that although his country opposes using the quota system that the EU will adopt for the redistribution of refugees among EU member states, it will not challenge it so as to avoid divisions.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis expressed his country’s willingness to receive the number of refugees that will be agreed on in the context of the EU’s plan, but he criticised how the quotas were forced on member states.

As to Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, he said that his country will not take legal action against the quota system and will not abide by it.

The Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania voted against the use of quotas during the meeting of member states’ interior ministers on Tuesday in Brussels.

Heated Session

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources told Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Brussels Nour Al-Din Buzian that the four countries that reject the decision and consider it as “dictatorial” will escalate the situation with Germany and France during the EU’s emergency summit.

The sources expected the summit to have a heated start and to witness strong responses from the four countries toward France and Germany, which accused the countries opposed to the quota system of dealing with refugees in a non-humanitarian manner.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent learnt that in the context of attempts to ease up the divisions, there are suggestions for adopting a mechanism granting these countries an exceptional permission to refrain from receiving refugees in line with the Commission’s plan.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent added that there is also another tendency to create coordination centres in Italy and Greece where refugees’ identity will be screened and they will be sorted so as to exclude those who are not entitled to political asylum. Another idea was floated to allocate funds for countries like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon to keep refugees within their borders.

Buzian said that the summit will see to agree on mechanisms for finding radical solutions for the refugee crisis, and against this backdrop Germany and France are trying to convince Turkey to close its borders, keep refugees inside Turkey and fight refugee smugglers in return for €1 billion in financial support from the EU.