EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos addresses a press conference in Brussels, on Wednesday. (Photo: AFP)

(VOVworld) – The EU has asked its member states to receive 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea landing in Italy and Greece, which have been overstretched by an influx of migrants. EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Wednesday that both Rome and Athens appealed to the 26 other EU states to share the burden. Avramopoulos told reporters at a press conference in Brussels that a proposal was issued for an emergency mechanism to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers to other European states. Syrians and Eritreans will be relocated from Italy and Greece to other European Union member states over a period of two years.
The proposal suggests migrants be distributed according to four criteria: gross national product, population, unemployment, and the number of asylum requests already registered in the country. Avramopoulos said the EU, according to the proposal, asked its member states to accept some 20,000 people from third countries, who really need to be protected by the international community.