Over the strong objections of some, government ministers from the European Union voted Tuesday to resettle 120,000 refugees, distributing them across the continent but making only a small dent in Europe’s huge migrant crisis.
The decision came through an extremely rare majority vote, rather than a full consensus, of the interior ministers from the EU’s 28 member states, attesting to the deep divisions over the issue.
Dissenting were several former Soviet bloc countries: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. Finland abstained. But under EU rules, the objecting nations must comply with the plan to accept refugees, who will be distributed according to each country’s population and wealth.