European Refugees

BRUSSELS — European Union ministers approved a plan Tuesday that would compel member countries to take in 120,000 migrants seeking refuge on the Continent — but only after overruling four countries in Central Europe.

The plan to apportion the migrants, still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe, was approved by home affairs and interior ministers of the member countries after a vigorous debate.

In a departure from normal procedures that emphasize consensus, particularly on questions of national sovereignty, the ministers took a formal vote. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted no. Finland abstained.

The plan will be discussed further Wednesday by leaders from across the 28-member bloc, who will gather here for an emergency summit meeting. It is not clear if the dissenting countries, which have vigorously opposed mandatory quotas, will comply.

The crisis has tested the limits of Europe's ability to forge consensus on one of the most divisive issues to confront the union since the fall of communism. It has set right-wing politicians, including those who govern Hungary, against pan-European humanitarians, who have portrayed the crisis in stark moral terms.

“We would have preferred to have adoption by consensus, but we did not manage to achieve that,” Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, said after the meeting. He urged the countries that had voted no to comply with the decision. “I have no doubt they will implement these decisions fully,” he said.

But there were early signs of resistance to the plan. The Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, said his government would “reject any attempt to introduce some permanent mechanism of redistributing refugees.”

The idea behind the plan — backed by Germany and France, the dominant powers in Europe — is to relieve the pressure on front-line nations like Italy and Greece, which migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa have been flooding.

If EU leaders ratify the plan Wednesday, despite a lack of broad agreement, it could exacerbate disharmony in Europe that has already led to the reintroduction of border controls by some countries.

http://cn.nytimes.com/world/20150923/c23migrants/en-us/

Structure of the Lead：

     WHO-UN

     WHEN-2015.09.23

     WHAT-refugees

     WHY-too many refugees

     WHERE-Europe and America

     HOW-law

Keywords:

1. compel 強迫

2. overrule 駁回

3. fraction 小部分

4. vigorous debate 激烈的辯論

5. particularly 尤其

6. summit meeting 高峰會

7. consensus 共識

8. implement 實施

9. redistribute 公平重新分配

10. ratify 正式批准