Fourteen EU member states are pledging to resettle almost 61,000 refugees in 2024-2025, the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs announced today, adding that she hoped for a European deal on immigration reform “before Christmas”.

“Since 2015, we have offered protection to 175,000 people through resettlement and humanitarian entry programs,” Ylva Johansson said during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN World Refugee Forum in Geneva.

“For 2024 and 2025, 14 Member States have committed to resettle and receive on humanitarian grounds more than 60,000 people, almost 61,000,” 31,000 of which through resettlement programs of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, he added.

The commissioner clarified that this number marks a slight increase compared to previous years, but did not give details about the 14 countries, explaining that the announcement should be made by them.

The Agency’s relocation programs allow refugees, who have found refuge in a first country, to settle in another country, which has agreed to provide them with international protection and after some time permanent residence.

Johansson also said that over the past three years, member countries have provided protection to around one million people, which means “that the EU today welcomes 20% of the world’s refugees”.

She also announced “65 million euros in additional aid” from the Commission “for the member states facing the greatest pressure” with the arrival of Ukrainian refugees.

The European official also spoke of “intense negotiations” on the difficult reform of the EU’s migration policy, saying there were “very few outstanding points of friction” left.

The declared objective of Brussels is to achieve next spring, before the European elections, the final adoption of this “Pact on Migration and Asylum”, presented in September 2020 by the European Commission.

“We are now very, very close to reaching a final compromise,” Johansson told reporters, assuring: “We are certainly not at that point yet. Therefore, it is not yet time to celebrate.”

The commissioner added, however, that she hoped negotiations could be completed “before Christmas”, before adding that she believed “this should at least be done before the end of February”.