The EU is in a heated debate over how to share at least 30,000 asylum seekers annually after a 2024 reform created a new solidarity mechanism. Brussels will label some states as under "migratory pressure" using indicators like irregular arrivals and sea rescue activity; others must accept relocations or pay €20,000 per person. Member states including Sweden, Belgium, Germany and France are lobbying to shape the methodology, and the Commission's proposal is due next week ahead of a December deadline. Political risk and mutual distrust make negotiations highly fraught.
EU Capitals Clash Over Migrant Burden-Sharing as Commission Readies Proposal
The EU is in a heated debate over how to share at least 30,000 asylum seekers annually after a 2024 reform created a new solidarity mechanism. Brussels will label some states as under "migratory pressure" using indicators like irregular arrivals and sea rescue activity; others must accept relocations or pay €20,000 per person. Member states including Sweden, Belgium, Germany and France are lobbying to shape the methodology, and the Commission's proposal is due next week ahead of a December deadline. Political risk and mutual distrust make negotiations highly fraught.
11:35, 07.11.2025Politics
EU Capitals Clash Over Migrant Burden-Sharing as Commission Readies Proposal
The European Union is locked in tense negotiations over how to redistribute at least 30,000 asylum seekers a year after a sweeping 2024 migration reform introduced a new solidarity mechanism.
Under the reform, Brussels will classify member states as being under “migratory pressure” using indicators such as numbers of irregular arrivals and the scale of sea rescue operations. States not classified as under pressure will be required either to accept relocated asylum seekers or pay a financial contribution of €20,000 per person.
How the system will work
- Frontline states (for example Spain, Greece and Italy) aim to ease immediate strain by relocating people to other EU countries.
- Other member states must accept a share of relocations or provide compensation, based on Brussels' classification of pressure.
The European Commission, which will apply the methodology for classification, is expected to publish its proposal next week after nearly a month of delay. That proposal will form the basis for member-state negotiations on how many additional asylum seekers each country will accept — or how much financial support it will provide. A final decision on allocations is required by the end of December.
Political stakes and mutual distrust
Determining who is "under pressure" is politically fraught. Delegations from across the bloc are lobbying intensively to influence the criteria. Sweden notes roughly 300,000 asylum applications over the last decade as a heavy load for a medium-sized state; Belgium points to full reception centres; Germany highlights more than one million Ukrainian refugees it has taken in since 2022; and France flags intensive maritime search-and-rescue operations for Channel crossings.
"You can see in the political rhetoric that everyone feels that they are under migratory pressure," a European Commission source said.
Some northern and central states — including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands — accuse frontline countries of allowing migrants to move deeper into the bloc rather than processing claims at first entry, a charge frontline capitals reject. The resulting atmosphere of distrust makes negotiations especially delicate: governments fear being saddled with a worse deal than their peers, and many face domestic pressure to tighten immigration rules.
Key facts: the new system covers 27 EU member states; at least 30,000 people must be relocated each year; the Commission's proposal is imminent; and a binding allocation decision is due by the end of December.