Proposal for a Council Decision amending Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601 of 22 September 2015 establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece

As part of the common policy on asylum, Article 78(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) provides a specific legal basis to deal with emergency situations. Based on a proposal by the European Commission, it enables the Council, after consulting the European Parliament, to adopt provisional measures for the benefit of Member State(s) confronted with an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries into one or more Member State(s). The provisional measures envisaged by Article 78(3) TFEU are exceptional in nature. They can only be triggered when a certain threshold of urgency and severity of the problems created in the Member State(s)' asylum system(s) by a sudden inflow of third country nationals is met.

The Council adopted two Decisions establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece. Under Council Decision (EU) 2015/1523 40,000 applicants for international protection are to be relocated from Italy and Greece to the other Member States. Under Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601 120,000 applicants for international protection are to be relocated from Italy and Greece and from other Member States if they are confronted with an emergency situation.

The Commission shall keep under constant review the situation regarding massive inflows of third country nationals into Member States and submit as appropriate proposals to amend Decision 2015/1601 in order to take account of the evolution of the situation on the ground and its impact on the relocation mechanism as well as the evolving pressure on Member States, in particular frontline Member States.

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)171: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:171:FIN

ESO: Background information: Commission makes immediate proposal to implement EU-Turkey agreement: 54,000 places allocated for resettlement of Syrians from Turkey http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-commission-makes-immediate-proposal-to-implement-eu-turkey-agreement-54000-places-allocated-for-resettlement-of-syrians-from-turkey/

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