According to Yle’s information, in 2016, the number of refugees and forcibly transferred asylum seekers accepted in Finland will be around 1,000 – equal to the current number of quota refugees. A reduction in the number of quota refugees – back down to 750 – would enable the state to accommodate the EU’s request to take in several hundred asylum seekers from other EU countries without exceeding its current total intake.
Yle's sources say that the government has tentatively agreed to return to the previous quota of 750, but a formal decision is scheduled to be made in the autumn.
The mathematics of crisis
If Finland was to retain the present quota, and bend to EU wishes, taking on additional quota refugees and processing an increased number of transferred asylum seekers, the amount of refugees and asylum seekers received would be around 1,600.
If Finland was to retain the current level of quota refugees, but not include transferred asylum seekers in this number, the intake would be in the realm of 1,300. However, if the current plan goes through, Finland’s yearly intake of people in need would be reduced to 1,000 in total.
Finland should receive some 800 asylum seekers from the EU over two years. The government estimates that of those around 75 percent are likely to receive asylum – that is, around 300 people per year. Additionally, around 300 quota refugees would be delivered by the EU, altogether filling out the majority of the nation’s total of 750 asylum slots.
The EU has appealed to member countries to take more responsibility for migrants fleeing conflict that are arriving by the thousands on Mediterranean shores. It has urged European nations to show solidarity with coastal EU states currently bearing the brunt of humanitarian crises. On a per capita basis Finland has accepted more than the average number of refugees.
Finland supports EU policy, but won’t receive greater numbers
The final EU decision on asylum seeker transfers has not yet been made. The Commission proposed that the burden of around 40,000 asylum seekers arriving in Mediterranean coastal states – in particular Italy and Greece – should be shared with the rest of Europe. Additionally, around 20,000 people could be transferred to the EU from refugee camps in the Middle East, however their reception would be voluntary on the part of member states.
Initially, Finland objected to the mandatory transfer of asylum seekers in favor of a voluntary approach. However, Finland declared that it’s willing to negotiate the matter and will not oppose the majority if EU countries are in favour of mandatory transfers.
Amnesty: "Cynical bookkeeping"
The director of Amnesty International Finland, Frank Johansson characterised the plans to cut the nation's refugee quota as a "cynical way of creative bookkeeping that completely fails to take responsibility in [addressing] the world's largest refugee crisis, and the common decision making that the EU demands of Finland."
Johansson blamed all of the leadership parties for the plans.
"Evidently the Finance Ministry's calculations about what this budget item would cost is more important than to help people who are in very great distress," Johansson said.