The charge may amount to some 250,000 euros ($290,000) per refugee, The Financial Times reported, underscoring that the plans are part of the Commission’s upcoming revision of the so-called Dublin asylum regulation.
"The size of the contribution may change but the idea is to make it appear like a sanction," an official told the newspaper.
Another diplomatic source said that in any case the price of refusing to host a refugee would be "hundreds of thousands of euros."
On Wednesday, the European Commission is expected to present new proposals to change the current Dublin Regulation, which deals with asylum policy in the bloc. The regulation stipulates that the first EU member country entered by a refugee is responsible for processing their asylum application. It is believed to be leading to a disproportionate amount of migrants in peripheral EU member states.