Why the refugee quota system is unfair on poorer eastern and southern EU states

EU states agreed on 23 September 2015 to implement a refugee quota system which will distribute 120,000 refugees across the EU, despite four member states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia – voting against the proposal. Luc Bovens and Anna Bartsch write that regardless of the wider debate over whether a quota system is justified or not, it is vital that the ‘distribution key’ determining how many refugees are assigned to each state is fair. They argue that the distribution key proposed by the European Commission is ill-conceived and regressive, and that a fairer system with recalculated quotas may go some way toward convincing the dissenting states to support the system.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Justice and Home Affairs Council, Brussels, 22 September 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/extraordinary-justice-and-home-affairs-council-brussels-22-september-2015/

ESO: Background information: Informal meeting of heads of state or government, Brussels, 23 September 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/informal-meeting-of-heads-of-state-or-government-brussels-23-september-2015/

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

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