The European Commission’s solutions for the refugee crisis, which include mandatory refugee quotas for the European Union’s member states, have divided the EU countries.

Countries in Eastern Europe, Romania included, oppose the mandatory quotas, which would bring them more refugees than they can handle. On the other hand, Western EU members, which are the primary target for refugees, threaten to punish the member states that don’t wish to join in solving EU’s refugee crisis by cutting their EU funds quotas.

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis had a telephone call with the European Commission’s President Jean Claude Junker on Sunday, to talk about the refugee problem. Iohannis said Romania would join the EU in solving the refugee crisis, but would continue to oppose the mandatory quotas, according to Mediafax.

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary also oppose the binding quotas.

On the other hand, other member states that favor this system have launched the idea that member states that oppose the quotas should be penalized.

Austria’s chancellor Werner Faymann criticized the member states that have been opposing the quotas and said that whoever tried to evade responsibilities should be penalized. “This could be done by reducing the access to structural funds for East European member states,” he said in an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Romania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry reacted to this statement saying that an EU member state couldn’t be penalized because it didn’t have the capacity to receive and integrate an imposed number of immigrants.

According to the European Commission’s proposals, Romania should take in over 6,300 refugees. The Romanian officials recently said that the country couldn’t receive more than 1,700 asylum seekers.

EU’s extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meets today (September 14) to establish a further course of action for dealing with the current migration crisis. The member states’ representatives will hear a presentation by the European Commission on its new proposals on migration.

Migration will be further discussed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on October 8 and at the European Council on October 15 and 16.

Romanian President criticizes EC’s mandatory quotas for refugees

The European Commission officially asks Romania to take in over 4,600 new refugees

editor@romania-insider.com