The European Parliament on Thursday approved European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's proposal to share 120,000 migrants across member states.
The EU lawmakers approved the proposal by 372 votes to 124 with 54 abstentions, reported New Europe. The refugee-quota scheme aims at reducing pressure on frontline EU countries - Greece (50,400), Hungary (54,000), and Italy (15,600).
"We are very grateful to the European Parliament for understanding the urgency of this matter," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels, according to AFP. "The vote means that both the Commission and Parliament can say to the Council that the moment to act is now," he said.
The proposed mandatory scheme would allocate asylum seekers to member states according to their capacity to absorb them, to be calculated using the following weightings: population size 40 percent, GDP 40 percent, average number of past asylum applications 10 percent and unemployment rate 10 percent, according to the EU Parliament.
"Member states participating in the scheme would get €6,000 per relocated person, including a 50 percent pre-financing rate to enable national authorities to act very swiftly. The countries from whose territory the asylum seekers would be transferred from would receive €500 for each person relocated, to cover transport costs," it said.
The emergency vote came a few days after EU interior ministers failed to reach an agreement on the proposal due to opposition from eastern European countries, according to ABC. The interior ministers are now scheduled to meet next Tuesday to reconsider the proposal.
