MEPs at the Civil Liberties Committee endorsed the proposal which aims to step up the EU's role in providing international protection. Once definitively adopted, Member States will see an increase of the support through a new joint resettlement programme to take up refugees.

The Civil Liberties Committee in the European Parliament adopted a proposal aimed at stepping up the EU's role in providing international protection, especially for vulnerable groups such as women at risk and unaccompanied minors, in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The new joint resettlement programme will resettle in the EU people who have been granted refugee status in third countries (for example, Libyan refugees in Tunisia). As the host countries are often developing ones, with limited resources, they cannot integrate and protect large numbers of refugees.

In order to encourage EU Member States to take up refugees, the new programme will enlarge the list of those whose resettlement will be financed by the European Refugee Fund, such as vulnerable persons (children and women at risk, unaccompanied minors, persons with serious medical needs and, at Parliament's request, refugees in need of urgent resettlement for legal or physical reasons). Moreover, the programme will set a series of geographical priorities on a yearly basis. In 2013, these will cover, among others, Iraqi refugees in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan; Afghan refugees in Turkey, Pakistan and Iran; Congolese refugees in Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia or Somali refugees in Ethiopia.

The Joint EU Resettlement Programme, who has already been agreed by the Council and the Parliament, foresees an increase of EU financial support for resettling refugees. Member States currently receive €4,000 per person resettled on their territory. To encourage more EU countries to help in resettlement, Member States resettling refugees for the first time will get €6,000 per person for the first year and €5,000 per person for the second year. For the rest the sum received will stay at €4,000. So far, 13 Member States have set up annual resettlement programmes: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, France, Romania, the Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary and Bulgaria.