In the week when the arrival of several hundred Slovak gypsies in Britain hit the headlines, MEPs gave a conditional welcome to the European Commission's proposals on help for refugees. Their proposals would oblige member states to take joint action to provide temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons in need of international protection. Any such action would be binding on member states.
Jan Wiebenga (NL, ELDR) argued that a harmonised policy of refugee protection would prevent distorted migratory patterns with some countries making a disproportionate effort and others doing too little.
The figures largely support Mr Wiebenga's case, and appeals by Germany for a fairer distribution of asylum applicants among other member states. Since the fall of the Berlin wall there has been a substantial influx of refugees into EU countries, fleeing particularly from conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Germany has taken in 400,000 refugees from that region, including some 340,000 from Bosnia alone - more than all other EU countries put together. In addition, in 1996 it received 569,000 applications for asylum, compared to 28,000 in Britain in the same year.
However, Britain's figure was greater than that of any other EU country after Germany. Applications in other member states were much lower.
Speaking in the debate, Niall Andrews (Dublin UFE) argued that the EU needed a flexible response to the refugee problem, with adaptable criteria and a limited temporary basis of protection.