EU quota plan for migrants raises Franco-German concern

Italy and Greece are struggling to cope with soaring migrant numbers this year

France and Germany say an EU Commission plan to redistribute 40,000 asylum seekers across the EU needs revision.

A joint statement from their interior ministers said the EU "distribution key" for giving member states a quota of migrants ought to "take better account of efforts already made".

They also called for Italy and other frontline states in the migration crisis to step up border surveillance.

The EU plan calls on states to house 40,000 new migrants in a quota system.

France and Germany would be among the biggest recipients of the migrants under the planned distribution mechanism, which covers 40,000 refugees in total with Eritrean or Syrian nationality. They are among those expected to arrive in Italy and Greece over the next two years.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere said the right balance of quotas "has not yet been reached".

They said "detailed discussions will be necessary at European level" to reach a balance between "responsibility and solidarity".

More than 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2015 - a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014. The majority had set sail aboard rickety, overcrowded boats from strife-torn Libya.

Germany has taken in by far the largest number of asylum seekers in the EU in recent years.

Denmark has the right to opt out of the quota plan, while Ireland and the UK can decide whether they wish to opt in.

In addition, the EU has proposed a voluntary scheme to settle 20,000 refugees fleeing conflict who are currently being looked after by the UN outside the EU.

Italy, Greece and Malta complain that their EU partners are not doing enough to ease the burden of housing asylum seekers and processing their claims.