World Bulletin / News Desk

A European Commission report on Wednesday said “further efforts” were needed by member states to relocate refugees and asylum seekers across the bloc.

The progress report also said the number of resettlements from Turkey under the EU-Turkey Statement continued to increase.

However, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, speaking to reporters in Brussels, criticized the bloc for only admitting around 12,000 Syrians from the 160,000 that was promised.

"We might start an infraction procedure…. and we will certainly consider that," Timmermans said, adding it would be "highly unfair" to not share the burden of Greece and Italy, the two EU countries that receive the most irregular migration.

The Greek Asylum Service also later hit out at some relocation practices, claiming some EU states were refusing to accept underage wives and their families.

Earlier, the European Commission adopted the ninth progress report on the EU's emergency relocation and resettlement schemes, assessing actions taken since Dec. 8, 2016.

Wednesday’s report said almost 3,100 Syrians had been resettled from Turkey to the EU, including 487 since two months ago.

Research claimed that, in the past two months, EU member states continued to "increase their efforts on resettlement", offering legal and safe pathways to 13,968 people so far.

According to the report, the number of relocations currently stands at 11,966.

"However, further efforts are still needed from member states to sustain the progress made and reach the monthly targets set by the commission of 1,000 relocations from Italy and 2,000 from Greece," it added.