EVERY country in the European Union will be asked to accept a fixed number of asylum seekers each year under a programme to be introduced by the European commission.

The “resettlement” scheme, to be launched next month by Franco Frattini, the European Union justice commissioner, is intended to make it easier for vulnerable refugees to reach safety in Europe without risking their lives on dangerous and illegal journeys.

Victims of war and natural disaster will be handpicked from refugee camps and rehoused in EU countries under the programme, which is also intended to help to control illegal immigration.

Commission sources have indicated that a pilot project to be launched at the end of this year will bring in the first refugees from Africa’s Great Lakes region and from “transit” countries such as Ukraine on the EU’s eastern borders.

The commission also hopes to set up “regional protection programmes” to help developing countries to cope with increasing numbers of refugees living in temporary camps.

The commission’s initiative has been welcomed by aid agencies. Seven European countries, including the United Kingdom, are already experimenting with limited resettlement schemes. Between them the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden accept 5000 refugees every year.

As the holder of the EU presidency, Britain is expected to play a prominent role in getting the resettlement programme established.

Critics believe the prospect of a free ticket to Europe will lure more people to overcrowded refugee camps. Timothy Kirkhope, the Conservative MEP leader and home affairs spokesman in the European parliament, described the plan as “cruel, inhuman and contrary to the concept of refuge”.

Kirkhope said that refugees should be settled as close to home as possible, allowing them to return quickly after a regime change.

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