EU migrant crisis: European ministers approve relocation plan for 120,000 migrants
European home affairs ministers have agreed to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece, Italy and other member states affected by the refugee crisis, despite objections from a number of member states.
Ministers met an emergency meeting today to discuss the plan after it was approved by European Parliament last week.
The scheme had attracted criticism from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. It comes after a number of EU members erected fences at their borders. Finland was the only country to abstain in the vote.
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"We, Slovaks, Romanians, Hungarians against, and Finland abstained. The resolution was accepted," Czech interior minister Milan Chovanec said in a tweet.
"Council decision on relocation for 120,000 persons adopted today, by large majority of member states," the Luxembourg government, which is chairing the meeting, later tweeted.
The UK is not part of the plan, but Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to take 20,000 refugees from camps in and around Syria.