515 refugees & asylum seekers for Luxembourg

(AFP/JB) Luxembourg has been asked to admit 515 refugees and asylum seekers as part of the European Commission's emergency efforts to resettle Syrian and Eritrean refugees.

On Wednesday, it called on member states to take 40,000 people refugees already in Europe and a further 20,000 overseas, allocating a number of refugees per country over the coming two years.

According to AFP, from the 24,000 asylum seekers currently in Italy, Luxembourg has been asked to welcome 221 people, equivalent to 0.92 percent. Meanwhile, of the 16,000 asylum seekers in Greece, the country has been asked to take 147 people ( 0.92 percent).

Of 20,000 Syrian refugees currently outside Europe, the body requested the Grand Duchy to house 147, equivalent to 0.74 percent of the total number, which Luxembourg has already previously pledged to admit.

There appears to be some disagreement about the total figure, however. German media agency dpa have put the figure at 368 but this would not appear to include the quota for refugees currently living outside of the EU.

Measure effective from April 15

The measure concerns people arriving in those countries after April 15 this year, EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said.

It suggests migrants be distributed according to four criteria: gross national product, population, unemployment and the number of asylum requests already registered in the country.

The commission said member states will be given 6,000 euros per asylum seeker.

Germany has been asked to admit the highest number of refugees and asylum seekers at 11,849 people and Cyprus would take the fewest at 138 people, according to AFP.

The UK, Ireland and Denmark did not feature in the list as the countries did not wish to participate in the proposal. 

Praising the proposal

The announcement comes as the migrant crisis reaches critical levels. Both Rome and Athens are struggling with the wave of migrants arriving there.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised the Commission's plan to have member states over the next two years admit asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea who have landed in Italy and Greece.

"I encourage the EU member states to show compassion as they consider this important proposal to share their resettlement responsibilities," the UN chief said, adding: "This can enable the European Union to address the dramatically increasing flows of people while setting an example for other regions of the world facing similar challenges."

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