The European Union has proposed tightening the rules around asylum in an effort to control the flow of migrants and refugees into the bloc.
It comes ahead of the scheduled restart of the deportation of migrants back to Turkey.
Still struggling to find common ground with its member states, the European Union has suggested further measures to deal with the flood of migrants and refugees.
Under what is known as the Dublin Regulation, people must claim asylum in the first EU country they reach.
But that is leaving frontline states such as Italy and Greece struggling to cope with huge numbers of arrivals.
It has also encouraged many people to journey north to other nations before applying for asylum, prompting several countries to close their borders.
The First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, says the changes would help reach a fair and sustainable solution to the problem.
"What we're putting on the table is two lines of thought. One being, you build on the existing Dublin Regulation, and you add to that a mechanism that would support member states when they're overwhelmed by enormous numbers of refugees arriving in that member state. That is one approach. The other approach would be to have a mechanism that automatically already creates a European distribution of people who arrive in member states."
The plan has already met with resistance, with the Czech interior minister claiming it is an attempt to bring in compulsory resettlement quotas.
The proposal comes just days after the first deportations of people from Greece back to Turkey under a highly controversial deal between Turkey and the European Union.
In return for the deportations, Europe will accept thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey.
Speaking to reporters, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has admitted the agreement was rushed and that further safeguards may be needed.
"It may take a little bit of time. This is why we were hoping for a bit more time, to put these safeguards in place, but we also fully appreciate that there was a political imperative to fix a deal and implement it. And you know, sometimes agreements ... You have to start implementing to make them better."
Greece's migration ministry says it has seen a drop in arrival numbers, although the figures are not constant.
However, the European Asylum Support Office says it has sent around 70 extra staff to the Greek island of Lesbos to help local authorities process applications for asylum.
The number of applications has increased since the deportation program began.
Under the scheme, only migrants whose asylum requests have been rejected or volunteer returnees can be deported.
Until a final ruling has been made on a claim, including an appeal against a decision to reject it, people cannot be sent back.
European Asylum Support Office spokesman Jean-Pierre Schembri, says it will help enforce the new conditions.
"We are looking into the asylum procedures directive, which allows, under two conditions, to return people to a country. What are these conditions? There is an article related to what we call 'safe third country,' and that is why Turkey comes in, and there's another article related to 'first country of asylum.' So, if a person has been given already protection somewhere else, then, obviously, that is the first country of asylum."
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