(Brussels) In the two months after 8 December, the member countries of the EU “have fostered settlement efforts, giving legal and safe access channels to 13,968 people. As for relocations, too, the general trend has been positive, with 3,813 additional relocations in the period in question, and a monthly peak of 1,926 in December, the highest one ever reached. On the whole, 11,966 people have been relocated until now”. Those figures were made known by the European Commission today, with an excessively optimistic tone with respect to the hundreds of thousands refugees landing on Italian and Greek shores in the last few years. The executive branch actually admits that “to strengthen the progress made, and to reach the monthly goals stated by the Commission (one thousand relocations in Italy and two thousand in Greece), further efforts by Member States are necessary”. Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos says: “In the last few months, there have been relocation and resettlement progresses. However, if we want our efforts to be in line with the challenge (both in Member States in the front line and in the countries close to us), it will be necessary to do more, and more quickly. Relocating all admissible seekers in Italy and in Greece is possible, but for that, political will, commitment and perseverance of all Member States will be necessary”.