Sweden requests EU help to relocate refugees
Date
11/5/2015 2:55:21 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The Swedish government will send a request to the European Commission on Thursday to arrange for migrants to be moved from the Scandinavian country to other EU member states.
"Sweden has long taken an incredible amount of responsibility in comparison to other countries in the EU and now we are in a very strained situation" Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a written statement to Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.
Sweden received the greatest share of EU’s 626000 asylum seekers last year based on its population size and is expected to receive 190000 in total in 2015 according to its migration board.
"It is time that other countries now take responsibility and this is why the [Swedish] government requires redistribution of refugees from Sweden" Lofven said.
"The fact that Sweden may receive up to 190000 asylum seekers in one year for a population of less than 10 million is a proof of the generosity and solidarity of Sweden and the Swedish population" European Council President Donald Tusk said in a statement on Wednesday following his meeting with Lofven.
A total of 160000 asylum seekers are supposed to be distributed across the 28-nation bloc mainly from the most affected countries such as Italy and Greece to other EU member states.
However EU member states have so far only relocated 116 refugees of the 160000 the European Commission reported on Tuesday.
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