2015 European migrant crisis

Police block a group of migrants trying to cross the Greek–Macedonian border, 24 August 2015

The 2015 European migrant crisis or European refugee crisis arose through the rising number of refugees and migrants, from areas such as the Middle East (Syria, Iraq), Africa (Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Gambia), the Western Balkans (Kosovo, Albania) and South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh), coming to the European Union across the Mediterranean Sea and Southeast Europe, and applying for asylum. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as of the end of August 2015, 70% of the Mediterranean Sea arrivals are refugees coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea. The phrase "migrant crisis" rose to popular use in April 2015, when five boats carrying almost two thousand migrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll estimated at more than 1,200 people.

The shipwrecks took place in a context of ongoing conflicts in several North African and Middle Eastern countries as well as the refusal by several European Union governments to fund the Italian-run rescue option Operation Mare Nostrum, which was replaced by Frontex's Operation Triton in November 2014. On 23 April 2015, EU governments agreed to triple funding for border patrol operations in the Mediterranean so that they would be equal to the previous capabilities of Operation Mare Nostrum, but Amnesty International immediately criticized the EU's decision not "to extend Triton's operational area" to the area previously covered by Mare Nostrum. Some weeks later, the European Union decided to launch a new operation based in Rome, called EU Navfor Med, under the command of the Italian Admiral Enrico Credendino.

According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,000 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992. In 2014, decisions on asylum applications in the EU made at the first instance resulted in more than 160,000 asylum seekers being granted protection status, while a further 23,000 received protection status on appeal. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants was 45% at the first instance and 18% on appeal. Four states – Germany, Sweden, Italy and France– received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014; while Sweden, Hungary and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita, when adjusted for their own populations.

Background

Schengen Area and Dublin Regulation

Main articles: Schengen Area and Dublin Regulation

In the Schengen Agreement, 26 countries of the European Union joined together to form an area, where border checks on internal Schengen borders (i. e. between member states) are abolished, and instead checks are restricted to the external Schengen borders and countries with external borders are obligated to enforce border control regulations.

Immigration to the EU

Immigration of non-EU nationals (green), asylum applicants (orange) and illegal border-crossings (blue) in the European Union, 2010-2014

Main article: Immigration to Europe

The foreign-born population residing in the EU in 2014 amounts to 33 million people, or 7% of the total EU population (which amounts to more than 500 million people). By comparison, the foreign-born population is 1.63% of the total population in Japan, 7.7% in Russia, 13% in the United States, 20% in Canada and 27% in Australia. Between 2010 and 2013, around 1.4 million non-EU nationals, excluding asylum seekers and refugees, immigrated into the EU each year using regular means, with a slight decrease since 2010.

Prior to 2014, the number of asylum applications in the EU peaked in 1992 (672,000), 2001 (424,000) and 2013 (431,000). In 2014 it reached 626,000. According to the UNHCR, the EU countries with the biggest numbers of recognized refugees at the end of 2014 were France (252,264), Germany (216,973), Sweden (142,207) and the United Kingdom (117,161). No European State was among the top ten refugee-hosting countries in the world.

Prior to 2014, the number of illegal border crossings detected by Frontex at the external borders of the EU peaked in 2011, with 141,051 sea and land irregular arrivals.

Global refugee crisis

See also: Syrian Civil War and Refugees of the Syrian Civil War

According to the UNHCR, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reached 59.5 million at the end of 2014, the highest level since World War II, with a 40% increase taking place since 2011. Of these 59.5 million, 14.4 million were refugees (excluding Palestinian refugees), some 2.7 milllion more than at the end of 2013 (+23%), and 1.8 million were asylum-seekers. Syrian refugees became the largest refugee group in 2014 (3.9 million, 1.55 million more than the previous year), overtaking Afghan refugees (2.6 million), who had been the largest refugee group for three decades. Even though most Syrian refugees were hosted by neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, the number of Syrian refugees applying for asylum in Europe steadily increased between 2011 and 2015, totalling 348,540 as of July 2015.

Beginning of the European crisis

Main articles: Libyan Crisis, Operation Mare Nostrum, and Operation Triton

Greek, Turkish, and Bulgarian borders and the course of the Maritsa River

Between 2007 and 2011, large numbers of undocumented migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossed between Turkey and Greece, leading Greece and the European Border Protection agency Frontex to upgrade border controls. In 2012, immigrant influx into Greece by land decreased by 95% after the construction of a fence on that part of the Greek–Turkish frontier which does not follow the course of the Maritsa River . In 2015, Bulgaria followed by upgrading a border fence to prevent migrant flows through Turkey.

The instability and second civil war in Libya has made departures easier from the north-African country, with no central authority controlling Libya’s ports and dealing with European countries, and migrant smuggling networks flourishing. The war could also have forced to leave many African immigrants residing in Libya, which used to be itself a destination country for migrants looking for better jobs.

The 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck involved "more than 360" deaths, leading the Italian government to establish Operation Mare Nostrum, a large-scale naval operation that involved search and rescue, with some migrants brought aboard a naval amphibious assault ship. In 2014, the Italian government ended the operation, citing costs to be too large for one EU state alone to manage; Frontex assumed the main responsibility for search and rescue operations. The Frontex operation is called Operation Triton. The Italian government had requested additional funds from the EU to continue the operation but member states did not offer the requested support. The UK government cited fears that the operation was acting as "an unintended 'pull factor', encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths". The operation consists of two surveillance aircraft and three ships, with seven teams of staff who gather intelligence and conduct screening/identification processing. Its monthly budget is estimated at €2.9 million.

Migration

Statistics

Sea and land arrivals to the EU

Sea and land arrivals to the EU in 2014 by nationality
Syria	79,169
Eritrea	34,586
Unspecified sub-Saharan nationals	26,341
Afghanistan	22,132
Kosovo*	22,069
Mali	10,575
Albania	9,323
Gambia	8,730
Nigeria	8,715
Somalia	7,676
Pakistan	6,641
Others	54,216
Total	283,532

According to the International Organization for Migration, up to 3,072 people died or disappeared in 2014 in the Mediterranean while trying to migrate to Europe. Overall estimates are that over 22,000 migrants died between 2000 and 2014.

In 2014, 283,532 migrants illegally entered the European Union, mainly following the Central Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes. 220,194 migrants crossed EU sea borders in the Central, Eastern and Western Mediterranean (a 266% increase compared to 2013). Half of them had come from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan.

Among those arriving in Southern Europe in 2014, the vast majority (170,664, a 277% increase compared to 2013) arrived in Italy through Libya, whereas a minority (50,834, a 105% increase) arrived in Greece through Turkey. 62,000 applied for asylum in Italy, but most Syrians and Eritreans, who comprised almost half of the arrivals in Italy in 2014, didn’t stop in Italy, and continued their journey towards northern Europe, Germany and Sweden in particular.

In 2015, a shift took place, with Greece overtaking Italy as the primary point of arrival and surpassing in the first six months of 2015 the numbers for the whole of 2014: 67,500 people arrived in Italy, mainly coming from Eritrea (25%), Nigeria (10%) and Somalia (10%), whereas 68,000 arrived on the islands of Greece, mainly coming from Syria (57%) and Afghanistan (22%). In total, 137,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in the first six months of 2015.

As of 17 April, the total number of migrants reaching the Italian coasts was 21,191 since 1 January 2015, with a decrease during the month of March due to bad weather conditions, and a surge since 10 April, bringing the total number of arrivals in line with the number recorded in the same period in 2014. However, the death toll in the first four months of 2014 was 96, compared with 500 in the same period in 2015; this number excluded the victims of the devastating shipwrecks on 13 and 19 April.

In early August, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that 250,000 migrants had arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2015, 124,000 in Greece and 98,000 in Italy. July set a new record for a single month, with 107,500 migrants estimated to have entered the EU, and, by August, a spokesperson for the European Commission called the situation "beyond urgent", and said said that a "collective European response" was required to deal with the hundreds of thousands of people trying to reach European shores.

Asylum applications

Asylum applications in the EU and EFTA States between 1 January and 30 June 2015 according to Eurostat data. In this period, 417,430 asylum applications were lodged in the EU. The height of the bars represents the number of asylum applications per country. Colors indicate the percentage of asylum applicants in relation to population:

  0.69%

  >0.2–0.3%

  >0.1–0.2%

  >0.05–0.1%

  0.02–0.05%

  <0.02%

  no data

According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,715 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992. The main countries of origin of asylum seekers, accounting for almost half of the total, were Syria (20%), Afghanistan (7%), Kosovo (6%), Eritrea (6%) and Serbia (5%).

In 2014, decisions on asylum applications in the EU made at the first instance resulted in more than 160,000 asylum seekers being granted protection status, while a further 23,000 received protection status on appeal. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants was 45% at the first instance and 18% on appeal. The main beneficiaries of protection status, accounting for more than half of the total, were Syrians (68,300 or 37%), Eritreans (14,600 or 8%) and Afghanis (14,100 or 8%).

Four states – Germany, Sweden, Italy and France – received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014. Sweden, Hungary and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita, when adjusted for their own populations, with 8.4 asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants in Sweden, 4.3 in Hungary and 3.2 in Austria.

In the first three months of 2015, the number of asylum applicants in the EU was 184,800, increasing by 86% if compared with the same quarter in the previous year but remaining stable if compared to the last quarter of 2014. The main nationalities of the applicants were Kosovo (48,875), Syria (29,100) and Afghanistan (12,910). In August 2015, the German government announced that it expects to receive 800,000 asylum applications by the end of the year, more than the whole EU in 2014. Until July 2015, Syrian refugees were the biggest group of asylum seekers in Germany, with 44,417 applications lodged since January, whereas 40% of applications came from people from the Balkans, who were thought not to qualify for asylum for the most part.

Motivations

Ascertaining motivation is complex, but most (62% according to a July 2015 United Nations estimate) of the migrants are refugees, fleeing war and persecution in countries such as Syria, Eritrea, and Afghanistan. Asylum seekers of seven nationalities had an asylum recognition rate of over 50% in EU States in the first quarter of 2015, meaning that they obtained protection over half the time they applied: Syrians (94% recognition rate), Eritreans (90%), Iraqis (88%), Afghanis (66%), Iranians (65%), Somalis (60%) and Sudanese (53%). Migrants of these nationalities accounted for 90% of the arrivals in Greece and 47% of the arrivals in Italy between January and August 2015, according to UNHCR data. Migrants from parts of West Africa, the Western Balkans and South Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan) are more likely to be economic migrants, fleeing poverty and lack of jobs, many of them hoping for a better lifestyle and job offers, without any refugee convention claims.

Migrant routes

As of August 2015, Frontex recognizes the following general routes on sea and on land used by irregular migrants to enter the EU:

Irish Naval Service rescuing migrants from an overcrowded boat as part of Operation Triton, June 2015.

• the Western African route
• the Western Mediterranean route
• the Central Mediterranean route
• the Apulia and Calabria route
• the circular route from Albania to Greece
• the Western Balkan route (from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary)
• the Eastern Mediterranean route
• the Eastern Borders route

Malta

Rescued migrants near Malta, October 2013

Main article: Demographics of Malta § Immigration

Between 2008 and 2012 Malta received, on average, the highest number of asylum seekers compared to its national population: 21.7 applicants per 1,000 inhabitants. In 2011, most of these asylum applications were submitted by nationals of Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea and Syria. In 2012, more than half of the requests were by Somalian nationals alone.

Melilla and Ceuta (Spanish Africa)

The Melilla border fence In Spain

Main articles: Melilla border fence and Ceuta border fence

Melilla and Ceuta, two autonomous Spanish cities on the north coast of Africa bordering Morocco, are the only EU territories to share a land border with Africa. The number of undocumented migrants hoping to reach the EU via Melilla or Ceuta grew in 2014.

Lampedusa (Italy)

Main article: Lampedusa immigrant reception center

Location of Lampedusa

Thousands of migrants try every month to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, risking their lives on unsafe boats including fishing trawlers. Many of them are fleeing poverty-stricken homelands or war-torn countries and seeking economic opportunity within the EU. Italy, and, in particular, its southern island of Lampedusa, receives enormous numbers of Africans and Middle-Easterns transported by traffickers operating along the ungoverned coast of the failed state of Libya.

In July 2013, Pope Francis visited the island on his first official visit outside of Rome. He prayed for migrants, living and dead, and denounced their traffickers. In October 2013, the 2013 Lampedusa disaster occurred; a boat carrying over 500 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, sank off the coast of Lampedusa with the deaths of at least 300 people.

In 2014, 170,100 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, a 296% increase compared to 2013. 141,484 of the travelers ferried over from Libya. Most of the migrants had come from Syria, Eritrea and various countries in West Africa.

From January to April 2015, about 1600 migrants died on the route from Libya to Lampedusa, making it the deadliest migrant route in the world.

Greece

Island groups of the Aegean Sea.

Migrants arrive from the Middle East making the 6-kilometre (4 mi) water crossing to the Greek islands of Chios, Kos and Lesbos, which are close to Turkey and are thus a quick and easy access border into Europe. Despite being a member country, Greece gave up on fulfilling its external Schengen borders to try to stop and register migrants.

In June 2015, 124,000 people had arrived, a 750% increase from 2014, mainly stemming from the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Greece appealed to the European Union for assistance, whilst the UNCHR European Director Vincent Cochetel said facilities for the refugees on the Greek islands were "totally inadequate" and the islands in "total chaos".

Frontex's Operation Poseidon, aimed at patrolling the Aegean, is badly underfunded and undermanned, with only 11 coastal patrol vessels, one ship, two helicopters, two aircraft and a budget of €18 million.

Human traffickers charge illegal immigrants $1,000 to $1,500 for the 25-minute boat ride from Bodrum, Turkey to Kos. In August "hundreds" of boats made the crossing carrying illegal immigrants every night. The migrants, many of them with cell phones and smart phones and detailed knowledge of illegal routes across Europe, travel onward to Thessaloniki in the mainland of Greece and estimate that it will cost them €3,000 to €4,000 to reach Germany, and €10,000 or €12,000 to reach Britain. Desperate migrants have fought brawls over places in boats leaving Bodrum for Kos.

In September 2015 the photos of dead 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned when he and his family were in a small inflatable boat which capsized shortly after leaving Bodrum trying to reach the Greek island of Kos, made headlines around the world. Konstantinos Vardakis, the top EU diplomat in Baghdad, told The New York Times that at least 250 Iraqis per day have been landing on Greek islands beginning mid-August 2015.

Hungary

Main article: Hungary–Serbia border fence

The Hungarian–Serbian border fence.

Migrants in Hungary on their march towards Austria.

Migrants taking the Balkans route cross into the Schengen Area first in Greece. Despite Schengen obligations Greece does not try to stop and register them. Migrants enter the Schengen Area again on the Serbian–Hungarian border. In June 2015, Hungary said it was contemplating countermeasures against the influx of illegal immigrants from Serbia, a non-EU and non-Schengen state.

On 17 June 2015, the Hungarian government announced the construction of a 4-metre-high (13 ft), 175-kilometre-long (109 mi) fence along its southern border with Serbia. Although Hungary acted in accordance with the Schengen Agreement that obligates countries with external Schengen borders to protect it from illegal crossing and exercise border checks, the European Comission warned EU members against steps that contravene EU obligations and urging members like Hungary to find other ways to cope with an inflow of illegal migrants. The first phase of the construction was finished at the end of August and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that it will be fully completed by the end of 2015.

On 3 September 2015, Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán defended the country's management of the migrant situation internally, notwithstanding chaos at Budapest's main international rail station, while criticising Germany and Europe overall for not dissuading migrants from entering Europe. On the same day, Hungarian police let migrants board a train in Budapest heading west then stopped it in Bicske, and tried to transport migrants to a registration camp there. The migrants refused to cooperate and remained on the train which didn't travel further west.

On 4 September 2015, about a thousand of the migrants at Railway Station East (Keleti Pályaudvar) set off by foot toward Austria and Germany. On the same night, the Hungarian government decided to send buses to transport illegal migrants to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria.

Croatia

Croatia, an EU member state, shares a land border with Serbia and is therefore at risk for a strong inflow of migrants from Serbia considering that Hungary erected a fence on its border with Serbia. Nearly 80% of the border consist of the Danube river, but the problem is the-70 kilometers-long so-called "Green Border" near Tovarnik. According to the Croatian Minister of Interior, Ranko Ostojić, "police in the area have enough people and equipment to protect the Croatian border against illegal immigrants". Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusić have so far rejected the option of building a fence along the Croatian border with Serbia.

Austria

On 27 August 2015, 71 migrants were found dead in an unventilated food truck near Vienna. As an official response to this tragedy, on 31 August 2015, Austria began inspections of vehicles for smuggled immigrants entering from across the border with Hungary, leading to vehicular backups of 19 km (12 mi) and trains stalled for hours.

Wien Westbahnhof railway station on 5 September 2015: migrants on their way to Germany

Late on 4 September 2015, Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria, in conjunction with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, announced that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany, and early on 5 September 2015, buses with migrants began crossing the Austro-Hungarian border. Austria noted that 6,500 migrants had crossed the border by afternoon 5 September 2015, with already 2,200 on their way to Germany.

Germany

Germany has been the most sought-after final destination in the EU migrant and refugee crisis, and thousands of refugees continued to pour into Germany from Austria as of 6 September 2015; according to The Wall Street Journal, this open-arms policy has triggered both a domestic and an international backlash. However, Germany has immediately begun to deploy a quota system to distribute asylum seekers among different states in the country.

Denmark

As of 9 September 2015, groups of migrants who declined to apply for asylum in Germany had crossed into Denmark with hopes of going to Sweden, getting into scuffles with police at a rail station in Padborg, Denmark. On 9 September, Denmark suspended all rail links with Germany and also closed a motorway on which hundreds of migrants were stopped from crossing the border.

Calais (France)

Main articles: Migrants around Calais and Calais jungle

During the summer of 2015 at least nine people died in attempts to reach England, including falling from, or being hit by trains, and drowning in a canal at the Eurotunnel entrance.

Incidents

Main articles: List of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea and List of migrant vehicle incidents in Europe

Several serious accidents and deaths have occurred in Europe as a result of human trafficking involving migrants. Standard cargo trucks are normally used, increasing the severity of accidents when they occur.

Reactions

European Union

The European Parliament has voted in favour of a migrant quota system to make sure that asylum seekers are distributed more equally across member states.

Further information: EU Navfor Med

On 19 April, Italy's Premier Matteo Renzi returned to Rome from a political event he had been attending in Mantua and met his top ministers. Renzi subsequently spoke by telephone to French President François Hollande and to Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. They agreed to call for an emergency meeting of European interior ministers to address the problem of migrant deaths. Renzi condemned human trafficking as a "new slave trade" while Prime Minister Muscat said 19 April shipwreck was the "biggest human tragedy of the last few years". Hollande described people traffickers as "terrorists" who put migrant lives at risk. The German government's representative for migration, refugees and integration, Aydan Özoğuz, said that with more arrivals likely to arrive as the weather turned warmer, emergency rescue missions should be restored. "It was an illusion to think that cutting off Mare Nostrum would prevent people from attempting this dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean", she said. Federica Mogherini called for collective EU action ahead of a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 20 April.

In a press conference, Matteo Renzi confirmed that Italy had called an "extraordinary European council" meeting as soon as possible to discuss the tragedy, various European leaders agreed with this idea. On 19 April, British politician Nigel Farage called for the United Kingdom to offer refuge to Christians from Libya blaming David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy for the drowning of the migrants off of Italy. He stated that the exodus from the country had been caused by western intervention, approved by Cameron and Sarkozy, in the civil war in Libya. Cameron tweeted on 20 April that he "supported" Renzi's "call for an emergency meeting of EU leaders to find a comprehensive solution" to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. He later confirmed that he would attend an emergency summit of European leaders on Thursday.

On 20 April the European Commission proposed a 10-point plan:

• Reinforce the Joint Operations in the Mediterranean, namely Triton and Poseidon, by increasing the financial resources and the number of assets. We will also extend their operational area, allowing us to intervene further, within the mandate of Frontex;
• A systematic effort to capture and destroy vessels used by the smugglers. The positive results obtained with the Atalanta operation should inspire us to similar operations against smugglers in the Mediterranean;
• Europol, Frontex, EASO and Eurojust will meet regularly and work closely to gather information on smugglers modus operandi, to trace their funds and to assist in their investigation;
• EASO to deploy teams in Italy and Greece for joint processing of asylum applications;
• Member States to ensure fingerprinting of all migrants;
• Consider options for an emergency relocation mechanism;
• A EU wide voluntary pilot project on resettlement, offering a number of places to persons in need of protection;
• Establish a new return programme for rapid return of irregular migrants coordinated by Frontex from frontline Member States;
• Engagement with countries surrounding Libya through a joined effort between the Commission and the EEAS; Initiatives in Niger have to be stepped up.
• Deploy Immigration Liaison Officers (ILO) in key third countries, to gather intelligence on migratory flows and strengthen the role of the EU Delegations.

The Guardian and Reuters noted that doubling the size of Operation Triton would still leave the mission with fewer resources than the previous Italian-run rescue option (Operation Mare Nostrum) whose budget was more than 3 times as large, had 4 times the number of aircraft and had a wider mandate to conduct search and rescue operations across the Mediterranean Sea.

On 23 April, a five-hour emergency summit was held and EU heads of state agreed to triple the budget of Operation Triton to €120 million for 2015–2016. EU leaders claimed that this would allow for the same operational capabilities as Operation Mare Nostrum had had in 2013–2014. As part of the agreement the United Kingdom agreed to send HMS Bulwark, two naval patrol boats and three helicopters to join the Operation. On 5 May 2015 it was announced by the Irish Minister of Defence Simon Coveney that the LÉ Eithne would also take part in the response to the crisis. Amnesty International immediately criticized the EU response as "a face-saving not a life-saving operation" and said that "failure to extend Triton's operational area will fatally undermine today's commitment".

On 7 September 2015, France announced that it would accept 24,000 asylum-seekers over two years; Britain announced that it would take in up to 20,000 refugees, primarily vulnerable children and orphans from camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey; and Germany pledged US$6.7 billion to deal with the migrant crisis. However, also on 7 September 2015, both Austria and Germany warned that they would not be able to keep up with the current pace of the influx and that it would need to slow down first.

Temporary partial suspension of the Dublin Regulation

Main article: Dublin Regulation

Under the Dublin Regulation, if a person who had filed for asylum in one EU country illegally crosses borders to another country, they shall be returned to the former. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Hungary became overburdened by asylum applications to the point that it stopped on 23 June 2015 receiving back its applicants who later crossed the borders to other EU countries and were detained there. On 24 August 2015, Germany decided to suspend the Dublin Regulation as regards Syrian refugees and to process their asylum applications directly itself. On 2 September 2015, the Czech Republic also decided to defy the Dublin Regulation and to offer Syrian refugees who have already applied for asylum in other EU countries and who reach the country to either have their application processed in the Czech Republic or to continue their journey elsewhere. On 7 September, Austria announced it will phase out special measures that have allowed thousands of migrants to cross its territory and will reinstate the Dublin Regulation.

New quota system proposal

As thousands of migrants started to move from Budapest to Vienna, Germany, Italy and France demanded asylum-seekers to be shared more evenly between EU states. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed to take in 160,000 asylum seekers under a new migrant quota system to be set out. Jean Asselborn, the Luxembourg foreign minister, called for the establishment of a European Refugee Agency, which would have the power to investigate whether every EU member state is applying the same standards for granting asylum to migrants. Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, criticised the European Commission warning that “tens of millions” of migrants could come to Europe. Asselborn declared to be ashamed of Orbán. Leaders of the Visegrád Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) declared in a September meeting that they will not accept any compulsory long-term quota on redistribution of immigrants.

Effect on individual member states

'Refugees Welcome' rally in Vienna, 31 August 2015

• Austria – On 6 August 2015, Amnesty International Secretary General Heinz Patzelt inspected the refugee camp Bundesbetreuungsstelle in Traiskirchen where more than 4,800 refugees are housed while nearly 1,500 of them are sleeping outdoors. Medical expert Siroos Mirzaei from Amnesty International noted that the people had to wait for days in order to get medical help. The report also states that only four doctors are present at the refugee camp. Showers and toilets are in a dreadful condition. Mirzaei speaks about "floating excrement". According to Patzelt, "Austria is currently violating human rights and should focus on unattended children and minors".
• Bulgaria – Bulgaria built a fence along its border with Turkey to prevent migrants from crossing through its territory in order to reach other EU countries. The fence is equipped with infrared cameras, motion sensors, wire and is monitored by the army.
• Croatia – Croatia will receive 550 migrants in the next two years according to the EU plan; 400 that are currently in Italy and Greece, and 150 that are currently outside the EU. Croatia was originally supposed to receive 505 migrants, but decided to accept more which makes it the only country in the EU, along with Estonia, which has done so. On 29 August 2015 a Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list published an interview with a "senior government official" who said that the Croatian Government formed an interdepartmental working group that is working on a plan on how to accept these 550 migrants. Croatia will in October 2015 send its delegation to the migrants camps in Italy and Greece, which will choose immigrants from Syria and Eritrea that Croatia will accept. Criteria for the selection will be: 1. any kind of connection to Croatia, such as family in Croatia or diploma from one of the Croatian Universities (while Croatia was member of Yugoslavia, many foreigners from Non-Aligned Movement countries, especially Syrians, were coming to Croatia to study), 2. education in occupations that are in demand in Croatia, and 3. families with small children. In addition, Croatia shares a land border with Serbia. Therefore, there is a risk of a strong inflow of migrants from Serbia considering that Hungary erected a fence on its border with Serbia. Nearly 80% of the border consists of the Danube river, but the problem is the 70 kilometers long so-called "Green Border" near Tovarnik. According to the Croatian Minister of Interior Ranko Ostojić "police in the area has enough people and equipment to protect Croatian border against illegal immigrants". Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusić rejected the option of building a fence on Croatian border with Serbia.
• Czech Republic – Czech President Miloš Zeman has expressed his dissatisfaction with the mass inflow of migrants to Europe on several occasions. In late August 2015 in an interview for radio "Frekvence 1" he said: "The reception of migrants from the Middle East and Northern Africa to the territory of the Czech Republic brings with it three major risks – spread of infectious diseases, terrorism of the Islamic state and the creation of new ghettos." According to his opinion the majority of refugees are actually economic migrants that are not fleeing war. President Zeman divided migrants into two categories – 1. about 1,500 of them that will be received in the next two years by the Czech Republic according to the EU plan, 2. all others that are staying in the country illegally, among which are some that break Czech laws so they should, as the President believes, be deported. The President also thinks that migrants that are crossing Czech territory in order to go to Germany will stay in the Czech Republic when Germany eventually stops accepting them, "which would then make Czech Republic to defend its boundaries with the police and army". Czech Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called for NATO intervention against human trafficking in the Mediterranean.
• Denmark – Denmark closed a motorway and rail links with Germany to stop migrants from illegally entering the country.
• Germany – German opposition to the government's admission of the new wave of migrants has been an increasingly tense political debate, coupled with a rise in anti-immigration protests. Pegida, an anti-immigration movement flourished briefly in late 2014, followed by a new wave of anti-immigration protests in the late summer of 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that Germany has the economic strength to cope with the influx of migrants and reiterated that there is no legal maximum limit on the number of migrants Germany can take. In September 2015, enthusiastic crowds across the country welcomed arriving refugees and migrants. Christian Social Union in Bavaria, the sister party of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union called Merkel's decisions "wrong", while Yasmin Fahimi, secretary-general of the Social Democratic Party, the junior partner of the ruling coalition, praised Merkel's policy allowing migrants in Hungary to enter Germany as "a strong signal of humanity to show that Europe's values are valid also in difficult times". Germany may also have a greater economic need for migrants than other major countries in Europe, due to a declining population and increasing dependency ratio.

File:Migrants in Hungary 2015 Aug 018.jpg

Migrants cross into Hungary underneath the unfinished Hungary–Serbia border fence, 25 August 2015

• Hungary – Hungary has finished construction of the first phase of a fence on its southern border with Serbia in late August 2015, according to the Hungarian Ministry of Defence. The fence consists of three strands of NATO razor wire, and is 175 kilometers long. The next phase involves construction of a wire fence which will be approximately 4 meters high. In August, describing Hungary as, "under siege from human traffickers", Minister of the Prime Minister's Office János Lázár announces that the government would "defend this stretch of our borders with force", deploying 9,000 police to keep undocumented migrants out.
• Italy – Some Italian towns and cities have refused instructions from the national government to house migrants. The Mafia Capitale investigation revealed that the Italian Mafia profits from the migrant crisis and exploits refugees. Pope Francis thanked the Italian navy for migrant rescue effort.
• Latvia – Latvia decided to receive 250 migrants in the next two years according to the EU plan. National Alliance party expressed its disapproval of such decision. On 4 August 2015 around 250 activists gathered in Riga on a protest against Government's decision on receiving migrants.
• Lithuania – Lithuania decided to receive 325 migrants, although after the increase of migrant flow in August 2015, its government didn't discount the possibility of accepting a greater number of migrants later in the same year.
• Poland – Government officials stated that the country is ready to take 2,000 refugees.
• Portugal – In the next two years, Portugal is willing to offer shelter to 1,500 of the refugees flooding into Europe from the Mediterranean Sea. A source has told Diário de Notícias that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already presented its counter-proposal to the European Commission (EC), which wanted Portugal to absorb 2,400 refugees.
• Slovakia – Government of Slovakia stated that it would help with migration into Europe by receiving 200 migrants according to the EU plan, but on condition that the migrants are Christians. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said: "I have only one question: who bombed Libya? Who caused problems in North Africa? Slovakia? No!" Prime Minister proposed temporary refuge in his country for 500 migrants who have submitted requests for aslyum in Austria, whose accommodation for refugees is overfilled, but as for 200 migrants that Slovakia will receive according to the EU plan, requires that these 500 are Christians as well.

International

• The United Nations predicted that one million migrants should reach Europe by 2016.
• The Russian Federation released an official statement on 2 September 2015 that the United Nations Security Council was working on a draft resolution to address the European migrant crisis, likely by permitting the inspection of suspected migrant ships.
• The International Organization for Migration says that deaths at sea have increased ninefold after the end of Operation Mare Nostrum. Amnesty International condemned European governments for "negligence towards the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean" which they say has led to an increase in deaths at sea.

Syrian civil war refugees in neighboring countries (as of 4 September 2015)

• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticised the funding of search and rescue operations. Amnesty International says that the EU is "turning its back on its responsibilities and clearly threatening thousands of lives".
• In August 2015, Amnesty International reported that Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have offered "zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees", although they gave some money to refugee aid initiatives. According to some analysis, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council allies could easily take up to three million Syrian refugees within one year. The BBC reported that "most successful cases are Syrians already in Gulf states extending their stays, or those entering because they have family there."
• Australian PM Tony Abbott said the tragedies were "worsened by Europe's refusal to learn from its own mistakes and from the efforts of others who have handled similar problems. Destroying the criminal people-smugglers was the centre of gravity of our border control policies, and judicious boat turnbacks was the key."
• Pope Francis expressed his concern about the loss of life and urged EU leaders to "act decisively and quickly to stop these tragedies from recurring".
• On 4 September 2015, the Israeli Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called on Israel to accept refugees from Syria, in addition to the humanitarian efforts it is already making. Two days later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls to accept Syrian refugees, attributing a lack of "demographic and geographic depth" for Israel to accommodate them.
• American billionaire and presidential candidate Donald Trump said that the United States should take in Syrian refugees, putting the blame for their plight on Obama's foreign policy.

Political debate

European People's Party

• Christian Democratic Union of Germany – On 31 August 2015, according to The New York Times, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, in some of her strongest language theretofore on the immigrant crisis, warned that freedom of travel and open borders among the 28 member states of the EU could be jeopardised if they did not agree on a shared response to this crisis.
• The Republicans (France) – Nicolas Sarkozy compared EU migrant plan to "mending a burst pipe by spreading water round the house while leaving the leak untouched". Following German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow tens of thousands of people to enter Germany, Sarkozy criticized her, saying that it would attract even greater amounts of people to Europe, where a significant part would "inevitably" end up in France due to the EU's free movement policies and the French welfare state. He also demanded that the Schengen agreement on borderless travel should be replaced with a new agreement providing border checks for non-EU citizens.

Party of European Socialists

• Democratic Party (Italy) – Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said the EU should forge a single European policy on asylum.
• Socialist Party (France) – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls stated, "There must be close cooperation between the European Commission and member states as well as candidate members."

Eurosceptic parties

• According to The Wall Street Journal, the appeal of Eurosceptic politicians has increased. On September 10, The Times (UK) reported that French anti-EU politician Marine Le Pen is "on course for presidency".
• Nigel Farage, leader of the British anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party and co-leader of the eurosceptic EFDD group, blamed the EU "and Germany in particular" for giving "huge incentives for people to come to the European Union by whatever means" and said that this would make deaths more likely. Additionally, he said that the EU's Schengen agreement on open borders had failed and warned that Islamists could exploit the situation and enter Europe in large numbers, pointing out that "one of the Isil terrorist suspects who committed the first atrocity against holidaymakers in Tunisia has been seen getting off a boat onto Italian soil". In 2013, Farage had called on the UK government to accept more Syrian refugees.
• Europe of Nations and Freedom Co-President Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front, accused Germany of looking to hire "slaves" by opening its doors to large numbers of asylum seekers among a debate in Germany whether there should be exceptions to the recently introduced minimum wage law for refugees. Le Pen also accused Germany of imposing its immigration policy on the rest of the EU unilaterally. Her comments were reported by the German and Austrian press, and were called "abstruse claims" by the online edition of Der Spiegel. Centre-right daily Die Welt wrote that she "exploits the refugee crisis for anti-German propaganda".
• Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (a member of Europe of Nations and Freedom) who is known for his opposition to Islam, called the influx of people an "Islamic invasion" during a debate in the Dutch parliament, speaking about "masses of young men in their twenties with beards singing Allahu Akbar across Europe". He also dismissed the idea that people arriving in Western Europe via the Balkans are genuine refugees, stating: "Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia are safe countries. If you flee them then you are doing it for benefits and a house."

See also

• List of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea
  • May 2007 Malta migrant shipwreck
  • 2009 Mediterranean Sea migrant shipwreck
  • 2011 Mediterranean Sea migrant shipwreck
  • 2014 Libya migrant shipwreck
  • 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck
• Immigration to Europe
  • Immigration to Italy
  • Immigration to Greece
  • African immigration to Europe
• Lampedusa immigrant reception center
• Death of Aylan Kurdi

External links

• Main migratory routes into the EU, updated by Frontex
• Sea arrivals to Southern Europe, updated by UNHCR
• BBC News, EU migration: Crisis in graphics, 3 September 2015
• Europe's migration crisis, graphics by Reuters
• Europe's Migration Crisis, backgrounder by the Council on Foreign Relations