Many East European countries are refusing to take in an allocated quota, which is based on a formula that considers: the size of the population (40%), total GDP (40%), the average number of asylum applications over the previous four years (10%) and the unemployment rate (10%).
However, the leaders of the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia declared in September that they will not accept any compulsory long-term quota on redistribution of immigrants.
"Moreover, the V4 countries called on all their European partners to support and preserve the Schengen Area.." https://t.co/0sXXuE0TyH
— HansVanMeerten (@HansvanMeerten) December 20, 2015
"If two or three thousand people who do not want to be here are forced into Czech Republic, it is fair to assume that they will leave anyway. The quotas are unfair to the refugees, we can't just move them here and there like cattle," said the Czech Government Secretary for European Affairs.
According to Der Spiegel magazine, Steinmeier warned the East European state:
"If it can't be done any other way, then things will have to be clarified using judicial means."
His comments were echoed by Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann who said funding and subsidies from the EU for eastern states could be cut.
Agreements Ignored
The argument goes to the root of the European Union dream of a borderless Europe. Under the Schengen agreement, 26 nations took down border controls between their countries and stopped border checks, passport controls and security checks.
First, the external borders have been exposed as being weak — with hundreds of thousands crossing into Europe and traveling unchecked. Second, the Dublin rules — under which refugees must be processed in the Schengen country of arrival — have been ignored, with refugees moving straight to destination countries where many of them remain to be processed.
@doan1935 I doubt Schengen will survive the migrant "crisis". This is likely to evolve into an economic phenomenon and continue @73Antw
— Martin Collinson (@MartinCollinson) December 21, 2015
Third, the rise in the threat from terrorism — including the Paris attacks of November 13 — have caused many countries to review their border security, after it was found that many of the attackers had moved freely between Europe and Syria unchecked.