France backs EU plan for refugee quotas, joining Germany

France's top security official says the country supports a plan to distribute asylum-seekers among European countries by quota, agreeing that the current system puts an unfair burden on the region's southern states, notably Italy.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio on Monday that France supports the plan, which is unraveling in the face of opposition among European Union countries. France, along with Sweden and Germany, is among a few countries accepting refugees.

The EU's executive commission was to propose the plan Wednesday as part of a strategy to help frontline countries Italy, Greece and Malta cope with thousands of migrants.

Cazeneuve also called for Europe to come up with a way to distinguish between economic immigration and asylum and organize the asylum before migrants risk their lives.

Rome is clamoring for more EU help to deal with thousands of migrants reaching Europe by boat from Libya, and pressure for action intensified last month when around 800 drowned after a Mediterranean shipwreck.

“This proposal ... was partly inspired by proposals made by France. It's reasonable that there should be a redistribution of the numbers in the European Union,” Cazeneuve told RTL radio station.

Some other countries not on the front line of the migrant exodus also back a quota system, notably Germany and Austria, but the proposal needs approval from all 28 EU governments, which is far from certain. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban described it as a “mad idea” Friday.

Another strategy proposed by the EU to stop migrants from making the dangerous journey is centered on Libya. EU diplomats have been working quickly on a Security Council resolution, which would be militarily enforceable, to authorize a mission that would seize suspected migrant smuggling ships in the Mediterranean Sea, in Libya's territorial waters and even on the country's coast.

Libya's blessing is needed, council diplomats said, especially for any EU ground forces in Libya. But Libya's ambassador to the U.N. is largely rejecting the plan, saying his Western-backed government wasn't consulted. He ruled out EU forces on Libyan soil “at this stage.”

Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said on Friday the best way to resolve the issue is to arm Libya's “legitimate” government. A rival regime has taken the capital, Tripoli. 

Dabbashi rejected the idea of destroying migrant smuggling boats, saying it would be difficult to distinguish between those and other boats. He called the idea of deploying more rescue boats off Libyan waters to save migrants a “completely stupid decision,” because it would encourage even more migrants to come to his country, further burdening local authorities.

Wire services