Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council: Fifth Report on Relocation and Resettlement

Relocation

During the reporting period from 14 June to 11 July, the number of relocations increased with an additional 776 persons being relocated, maintaining the increased rate seen in the previous reporting period. This brings the total number of persons relocated to 3,056 (2,213 from Greece and 843 from Italy), with Croatia having participated in the scheme for the first time. Although this constitutes positive progress and shows that Member States are stepping up their efforts, it still falls far short of the Commission's proposed target of relocating 6,000 people per month. Member States are not yet meeting the commitments they made under the Council Decisions on relocation.

The pace of relocation transfers from Greece increased during the reporting period, notably due to an increased engagement from several Member States and the heightened capacity of the Greek asylum service to process relocation requests. However, relocation from Italy decreased and remained at a particularly low level compared to the continuously high number of potential applicants for relocation arriving in Italy. The Commission calls on Member States to increase their efforts, in particular with regards to unaccompanied minors, and to fully comply with their commitments and obligations under the Council Decisions on relocation. It is crucial that all Member States relocate actively and on a regular basis from both Italy and Greece.

Resettlement

Based on the information received from the participating States, 8,268 persons had been resettled by 11 July 2016 under the resettlement scheme of 20 July 2015, mainly from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. They have been received by 20 resettling States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).

The number of resettlements from Turkey under the EU-Turkey Statement continued to increase during the reporting period (14 June to 11 July) as Member States assessed the candidates referred to them by Turkey, via the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Since 4 April 2016, a total of 802 Syrians have been resettled from Turkey to the EU, including 291 since the last report, and the number of Member States actively participating in the scheme has also increased. Since the last progress report, in addition to Finland, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal, resettlements have now also taken place to Latvia and Spain. The permanent EU Resettlement Framework proposed today will establish a common set of standard procedures for the selection of resettlement candidates and a common protection status for persons resettled to the EU to streamline and better focus European resettlement efforts in the future.