EU lawmakers criticize member states over refugee failure

BRUSSELS – European Union lawmakers are demanding that the bloc’s nations respect pledges to share tens of thousands of refugees in overwhelmed Greece and Italy.

In a resolution adopted Thursday, the lawmakers lamented that just over 10 per cent of the 160,000 refugees meant to be moved by September have actually left the two countries.

The resolution was backed in a 398-134 vote with 41 abstentions in Strasbourg, France.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said Greece and Italy are under “enormous pressure” and that “only a handful of member states have taken their share. This is profoundly unfair.”

Almost 19,000 refugees have been relocated under the legally binding two-year scheme, considered a key plank of the EU’s migration policy. Only Finland and Malta are on track to reach their targets.