The European Commission presented a new resettlement scheme on Wednesday that would allow for 50,000 refugees to be resettled to Europe over the next two years.
The commission said that 500 million euros (590 million dollars) had been set aside to support member states that are free to participate in the scheme on a voluntary basis.
The commission said that while resettlement from Turkey and the Middle East was to continue, an increased focus should be put on resettling vulnerable persons from Libya, Egypt, Niger, Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia.
The nationalities currently eligible for resettlement were those with overall asylum recognition rate of 75 per cent or higher in EU member states.
Currently asylum seekers from Eritrea, Syria, Yemen, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates qualify for resettlement under those rules.