A row over proposed EU migrant quotas hopefully aimed at taking the pressure off front-line countries in the Mediterranean emergency like Italy, Greece and Malta rumbled on Tuesday. Amid fresh French doubts after Spain had voiced concern, the European Commission was at pains Monday to stress that France's position on the temporary resettlement of incoming migrants or relocation of asylum seekers already inside EU borders "is not incompatible" with that of the EC.
EC spokesperson Natasha Bernaud said the EU had been in touch with Paris and it could "count on its backing". France had seemed to back-track from supporting the proposed new quota system for sharing migrants and asylum seekers among EU members.
There have been widening divisions over the initial agreement on a migrant total of 20,000 to be shared out among EU members according to the proposed quota system.
Several countries, including Britain, Denmark and Ireland, are already able to opt out and most Eastern European countries want to follow suit. On Tuesday Hungarian Premier Viktor Urban called the EC proposal "unhealthy".
But the Commission also said Tuesday that its plan to introduce quotas to relocate asylum seekers in response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis was open to some degree of negotiation. On Monday Spain requested the relocation criteria be revised. "There is scope for discussing the criteria," said spokeswoman Bertaud.
However, French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday again rejected quotas for migrants while saying he agreed with the need to "distribute" asylum seekers around Europe.
"One must distinguish between immigrants arriving for economic reasons, who can't stay, and refugees who are entitled to political asylum, for whom European law must apply", he said.
Policies to restrict numbers of people coming in search of a livelihood are needed in a Europe without borders, and in countries that do not have enough employment, added Hollande.
"These people are sent back," he said. "We can not talk of quotas for them. There are no quotas of migrants," coming in for work.
In contrast, refugees with the right to asylum must all be considered "also here there is no quota," said Hollande.
"There are people who are eligible and people who are not entitled".
Hollande added that France and Germany "speak with one voice" on the issue.
Responding to the apparent French renewed No, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans claimed that plans for an EU migrant quota system were not put at risk by Hollande's reiterated stance. "I have not seen a 'no' from Hollande," said Timmermans.
"I saw questions on quotas....The strategy is not at risk," he said. Meanwhile Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow "will examine in the most precise way possible all the nuances" of an EU request for a UN Security Council mandate for its planned mission to fight migrant smugglers in Libya "so there isn't a double meaning in what may be given to the EU". The proposed mission, headquartered in Rome and led by an Italian admiral with experience in destroying Somali pirate boats, Enrico Credendino, was OK'd by EU foreign and defence ministers Monday and aims to get a UN mandate before being greenlit by the EU late next month.
The drive to resolve the Mediterranean migrant crisis also includes setting up processing centres in transit countries.
The draft UN resolution is already being reviewed by Russia and China, a UN source said Tuesday.
Those two permanent members of the UN Security Council were said to have major concerns about military actions and could veto such a resolution, analysts say.
The draft text speaks of a "mandate for an operation under the umbrella of the European Union" and the UN.
The operation could include the use of force in order to "inspect, seize, and neutralize boats that are suspected of being used for the smuggling of migrants".
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