On Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:22:20 +0100, Nightjar "cpb"@ wrote:

Presumably you mean, once they are accepted as genuine refugees? I
thought that once this had happened, they could go anywhere in the EU.
So they would do the redistribution themselves.

Not so. Once granted refugee status, they are foreign nationals within
the country that granted them asylum. They are not EU citizens and do
not have the right of free movement within the EU.

Not quite...

Schengen, there's no borders*. There is no difference.

If they want to move to another country, inside or outside the EU, they
have to apply separately for residency of that country, without the
benefit of being able to claim refugee status. That is why they try to
reach a specific country before applying for asylum.

Except the asylum tests are standardised throughout the EU, and one
country's results of those tests is accepted by every other country.

So somebody granted asylum in one country would automatically have that
asylum respected in another.

However, language is a significant driving factor; a lot of those trying
to get to Britain are from Eritrea, where English is widely spoken.

There are, of course, a lot of largely-Francophone former French colonies
in Africa.

* - Well, there shouldn't be...