EU Mulls Accepting 200,000 Refugees From Camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon

The European Commission plans to propose another plan to accept 200,000 refugees from camps set up in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, media outlets reported on Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The publication has found an EC plan to introduce a "structural EU-wide resettlement scheme" next March, part of a series of reforms to stem the unprecedented flow of migrants into Europe.

"We need to resettle more refugees from those countries that are shouldering the largest responsibility already," EC migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said as quoted by The Financial Times.

The scheme is said to be based on UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations to resettle refugees directly from countries outside the bloc.

Avramopoulos said further border management and anti-smuggling reforms are needed.

Europe’s latest scheme to resettle 160,000 migrants from Greece, Hungary and Italy exposed divisions within EU member states. Romanian, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak governments oppose the mandatory quota system.

Meanwhile, the newspaper maintains that the plan to accept refugees from outside the EU "has proven less controversial" with member states than the current relocation program from inside the bloc.