THE European Union is on the brink of another major row which would split the bloc after migrant crisis plans placing more burden on southern states emerge.
Five EU members – Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta – are pushing back against the proposed overhaul of the Dublin Regulation, which could see them being responsible for asylum seekers for 10 years.
Under the current system a refugee or migrant who enters an EU country must register in that country. They then cannot seek asylum somewhere elsewhere for a period of six months.
Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, has proposed to increase this initial period from six months to ten years.
Many EU countries do not want a repeat of the previous migration crisis in 2015 and 2016 and the Bulgarian proposal, backed by Germany and Sweden, also seeks reconsider mandatory quotas for countries to take in a certain number of refugees.
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