Populist movements weigh on EU migrant accord, expert says

(ANSA) - Brussels, June 18 - Nationalist and populist movements in European Union countries are contributing to the difficulties weighing on the migration quota proposal brought by the European Commission in May, said UN immigration expert Francois Crepeau on Thursday.
    The proposal, in which 40,000 asylum seekers arriving in Italy and Greece would be redistributed throughout the EU, has met with difficulty from EU nations hesitant to open their borders to the arrivals, mainly from African nations. A decision about whether or not to implement the plan was put on hold this week after interior ministers from 28 EU member states failed to come to an agreement at a home affairs meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
    Crepeau, the UN's special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said he's "not very confident" that an agreement can be reached, and added, "it will depend on the national electoral campaigns of the next 12 months".
    "In many countries, nationalist and populist movements have dictated the terms of debate for thirty years, and the principal political parties haven't been able to assert different themes," Crepeau said.