Q&A: What is the EU migration plan all about?

What is the new EU proposal on migration?

On Wednesday the European Commission will publish a new migration strategy for the European Union. The EU's executive arm had already been planning a new strategy for publication in May, but last month's drownings in the Mediterranean led to the proposals being fast-tracked.

The commission hastily gathered a “10-point plan” from the draft proposal which was discussed by EU leaders at the emergency summit on last month. On Wednesday the full version of the proposal will be published.

What are the main points of the proposal?

According to a leaked copy of the document obtained by The Irish Times, the European Commission is proposing a more integrated EU-response to asylum and migration issues.

“To try to halt the human misery created by those who exploit migrants, we need to exploit the EU’s global role and wide range of tools to address the root causes,” the document states.

As well as trying to address the issues that lead migrants to leave their home countries in the first place, the commission pledges to tackle the “continued fragmentation of the asylum system” in Europe. Most controversially it is proposing a ‘resettlement’ programme, which would involve resettling asylum-seekers who are residing in camps outside the European Union in Europe, mentioning a figure of 20,000 by 2020.

Even more controversially, it is advocating a ‘relocation’ programme which would disperse refugees who have already arrived in the EU across the member states using a ‘distribution key’. This would involve invoking a ‘Temporary Protection Directive’ dating from 2001 which would grant emergency refugee status to migrants fleeing Syria and Eritrea, before moving to a more long-term mandatory re-location programme.

Why is this controversial?

Generally, migration and asylum policy is the competency of member states, not the EU, but countries such as Italy, Greece and Malta who have been shouldering the responsibility for receiving migrants, have been calling for an EU-wide response. The idea of a relocation programme would be particularly tricky as it would affect the so-called ‘Dublin regulation’ which states that the member state which first receives asylum-seekers must process their application.

Does the new proposal mean a mandatory resettlement of asylum-seekers across Europe will be introduced?

Not necessarily. Crucially, the European Commission’s proposal must be agreed by EU member states with a number of countries, including Britain, opposed to the idea. However, Germany is believed to be in favour of the introduction of a ‘distribution key’ and a resettlement programme in particular. EU leaders will discuss the matter at their leaders’ summit in June.

The publication of the proposal just days after Britain returned a Conservative government has also produced a headache for British prime minister David Cameron given that migration will be a key focus of the upcoming negotiations between London and Brussels on Britain's EU membership.