The United Kingdom opt-in to the proposed Council Decision on the relocation of migrants within the EU

On 27 May 2015 the Commission published a proposal for a Council Decision providing for the relocation over two years of 40,000 third country migrants from Italy and Greece to other Member States. If adopted, the proposal would constitute a temporary and limited departure from the usual rules under the Dublin Regulation, which determines which Member State has jurisdiction to examine and determine an asylum application. This proposal is part of the Commission’s wider European Agenda on Migration, which was brought forward as a response to the current crisis unfolding in the Mediterranean. Recent months have seen the largest mass migration of displaced people globally since the Second World War. Within the Mediterranean in particular, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of migrants attempting to reach the EU by sea. This has led to catastrophic accidents and significant loss of life.