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Scottish leader, unlike UK government, welcomes EU refugee plan

By Joseph D'Urso

LONDON, June 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Scotland "recognises its obligations to refugees," nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon said in Brussels on Tuesday, highlighting the contrast between her devolved administration and the British government on an EU proposal of quotas for resettling migrants.

The European Commission has suggested that 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum seekers be shared among EU member states based on each nation's population, economy, unemployment and number of asylum applications received in the past five years.

EU ministers will discuss the plan on June 15-16, but Britain has said it will not join the talks. Pressure on the bloc to act has increased since about 900 migrants drowned off Libya on April 19, the deadliest shipwreck in recent times.

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"The Scottish Government has urged the UK to participate fully in proposed EU action - such as on relocation and resettlement," Scottish First Minister Sturgeon said, adding "Scotland is willing to take our fair share of refugees".

About 1,800 people have died or gone missing this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on packed boats, while more than 40,000 have reached Italy which, like other southern European countries, wants help to relieve the influx.

Germany, Sweden, Austria and others are favoured destinations for migrants who, once ashore, travel across the EU's internal open borders to claim asylum. These states have asked for migrants to be spread more evenly across the bloc.

Britain's Conservative Party was re-elected last month with a mandate to cut net immigration - about 300,000 last year - and renegotiate the terms of UK membership of the European Union before holding a referendum on whether to stay in or quit.

"We must - and will - resist calls for the mandatory relocation or resettlement of migrants across Europe," Britain's interior minister, Theresa May, said in an article in the Times newspaper last month.

Offering migrants asylum would "encourage more people to put their lives at risk," May said, a stance that EU officials have criticised and refugee groups have said is incorrect. Britain, Denmark and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) have exemption from EU immigration policy.

On Monday the interior ministers of France and Germany, meant to take nearly 40 percent of the asylum seekers between them, expressed concern, saying the European Union must take better account of efforts the two countries have already made.

Sturgeon's Scottish National Party lost a referendum last September on gaining independence from Britain, but has since had a surge in popularity and won all but three of Scotland's 59 seats in the UK lower house in a general election last month.

"We believe that all EU members have a role to play in helping those who have fled conflict and persecution and come to Italy or Greece from across the Mediterranean," she told the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based thinktank.

The Italian coastguard reported on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) that over 5,000 migrants had been rescued from boats in the Mediterranean in 24 hours in an operation involving vessels from many nations including Germany and Britain. At least 17 migrants died. (Reporting By Joseph D'Urso; Editing by Tim Pearce )