Refugee crisis: EU states failing to meet funding and resource commitments

EU member states are falling short of all the main commitments they agreed to in September to urgently address the refugee crisis.

Too few had responded to calls from Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia to provide the resources they need to cope with the situation, according to the European commission.

The three countries have called on the support of the EU civil protection mechanism, a scheme designed to offer practical assistance to countries overwhelmed by the situation. But so far only 10 member states have responded to their requests – Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia, the UK and Romania.

Many items requested by Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia have not been delivered, including essentials such as beds, blankets, protective clothing, first aid kits and water containers.

Thousands of refugees have entered Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in the past month in an attempt to cross Europe after borders elsewhere were shut. Nearly 200,000 people entered Croatia between September and October after Hungary closed its border with the country.

In October, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported that more than 10,000 refugees were stranded in Serbia short of aid and food.

Member states were asked on 23 September to notify the commission of any assets which can be held ready to deploy to help refugees. At the time, only eight countries – Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Latvia – notified the commission that they had limited civil protection assets or experts they would be prepared to deploy this year, should a request be made.

The European commission data also reveals that a large number of member states have also failed to match EU funding for the UNHCR, World Food Programme and other relevant organisations.

Heads of state and governments recognised the need to deploy additional funding on 23 September. They repeated their commitment at the European council on 15 October. However, just over €500m (£350m) has been pledged since, leaving a shortfall of nearly €2.3bn on the sum required.

On the eve of the October council, the commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said member states needed to do more to urgently implement the measures agreed in September, saying: “Noble words need to be followed by concrete actions back home.”

Member states have so far provided less than half the 374 experts and 743 border guards requested by the European Asylum Support Office and Frontex, the European border control agency, respectively.

The commission data also shows that of the 160,000 refugees member states agreed to relocate from Europe’s most affected states – such as Italy and Greece – over the next two years, only 116 have been relocated, and only 1,418 places have been made available by just 14 member states.

Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former prime minister, tweeted that such figures were scandalous.

A dozen member states have yet to even appoint the liaison officers required to coordinate relocations with Greece and Italy, according to information provided by the commission this week.

Some 770,000 asylum applications were lodged across the EU in the first nine months of 2015, compared with 625,920 in all of 2014 and 431,090 in 2013.

Germany alone has welcomed more than 350,000 applications so far this year. Sweden, Austria and Hungary are among the countries to have received the most relative to their population size.

Natasha Bertaud, the commission’s spokeswoman for migration, said: “It is important that member states step up implementation. The relocation scheme was agreed on in September. What we had asked all member states to do was immediately tell us how many places they have available right now out of their share of the 160,000. Some of them have done so. Some of them have not.

“The relocation flights now need to become systematic, everyday business. It is a question of credibility in following up on political commitments with practical application.”