MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The discrepancies over the EU obligatory migrant resettlement quota plan highlights profound differences between the bloc members, Marie-Christine Arnautu, a member of the European Parliament from France, told Sputnik on Monday.
"This issue highlights the absurdity of this alliance of countries with very different interests, different policies and even if at one stage national sovereignty was quelled, now there is a slip in the European Union," Arnautu said.
According to the lawmaker, the penalties for countries that refuse to comply to the migrant quotas will create huge problems at a European level.
Over 500,000 migrants have arrived in the European Union since the beginning of 2015, according to the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
On September 9, the European Commission called on EU member states to resettle some 160,000 migrants throughout the bloc over the next two years under a new plan of binding quotas.
On Monday, the EU interior ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the quota plan.