Spain more than 8,000 refugees short of EU pledge

Refugee family arriving to Madrid's Barajas international airport. Photo: Europa Press via 20minutos
Share now:

• Spain has accepted 1,263 of 9,323 refugees it has pledged to accept since 2015
• European Commission faults processing slowdowns by Spain, other countries

Spain is still nearly 9,000 refugees short of the number of asylum seekers it agreed to relocate from refugee camps in Greece, Italy, Lebanon and Syria under the emergency 2015 accord it signed along with all other EU member states.

After nearly four months of no refugee relocations from the camps to Spain, the government admitted 200 new transfers of refugees to Spain last month.

Spain has until September to meet its commitments under the two-year refugee resettlement plan it signed with the EU in 2015 to resettle a total of 16,000 refugees. That number was reduced through further negotiations to a total of 9,323 refugees destined for Spain, of which the government has accepted 1,236.

In a recent report, Spain was among EU member states criticized by the European Commission for slowdowns in the processing of asylum requests and for placing additional requirements on asylum seekers applying for refugee status and relocation to Spain.

► Read More in Spanish at 20minutos and Europa Press …

Share now: