EU to Poland, Hungary: take in refugees or face sanctions

The European Commission, called for EU member states to start accepting asylum-seekers by June, according to previous agreements, or they could face consequences. The only two member states, which did not took in a single person are Poland and Hungary. “It cannot be that while the majority of member states are making real efforts in a real European spirit, others continue to show no solidarity," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said. The Commission will decide next month what kind of legal steps to take against the states which refuse to comply with the EU migration policy. Polish PM Beata Szydło said that Poland “cannot accept refugees.” Szydło added that thanks to Poland's tough attitude towards refugees, “a critical attitude towards the mechanism of migrant relocation is becoming increasingly widespread in the European Union”. Apart from Warsaw and Budapest, the Commission also singled out the Czech Republic, saying it has not been active on that front for a year, and Austria, which has so far not taken in any refugees, but has pledged to take in people from Italy.The Commission said it must do the same for Greece. Fewer than 14,500 asylum-seekers, out of 160,000 covered by the EU plan have been relocated so far from Greece and Italy. The two year plan expires in September. In total, some 1.6 million refugees, mostly from Syria, reached the EU between 2014-16.