De Europese Commissie heeft vandaag beslist om het niveau van haar cofinanciering te verhogen voor noodsteun, en dit via het Europees civiele beschermingsmechanisme geactiveerd via Hongarije, Servië, Slovenië en Kroatië.

Following the increase in the number of asylum seekers, the Belgian government approved a series of measures to progressively increase the reception capacity .

The European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, writes on the challenge of the migration issue.

To face the important inflow of asylum seekers in Belgium, the government has taken measures to create additional reception places.

Interior ministers in Brussels on Monday (20 July) fell short of a European Commission-proposed target to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers arriving in Greece and Italy over the next two years. However according to EU Commissioner Avramopoulos significant progress was made on different topics.

As part of the implementation of the government agreement of October 2014 as well as of the new reception scheme, the reduction of available reception places for asylum seekers has been approved by the Council of Ministers of 11 December 2014.

On 4 December 2014, 22 Syrian refugees landed in Belgium for resettlement. 53 more are expected to arrive by the end of the year. Further resettlements of Syrian refugees are planned in 2015.