(VOVworld) – EU ministers failed to agree on a plan to relocate 40,000 immigrants in Italy and Greece to other European countries over the next 2 years at a summit in Brussels on Monday.

Migrants at a refugee facility in Hamburg (Photo: DPA)

Luxembourg, which holds the Presidency of the Council of European Union, said EU interior and justice ministers had only agreed to relocate 32,000 refugees who are now in Greece and Italy, most of whom are from Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, and Somali. Jean Asselborn, the EU Immigration Minister, said that it would not be until this October the first Syrians living in refugee camps outside Europe would be relocated.
Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, some Baltic countries, and Spain have opposed the EU’s plan to set up a quota system for immigrants.