According to first vice-president of the European Commission, citing some internal report from the Frontex (EU border agency), 60% are economic migrants.
I would love to see the actual numbers and how Frontex arrived at them - Frontex' job is NOT to decide on or even investigate in asylum applications at all. They have to refer applicants to relevant national authorities; one becomes an applicant by merely stating the wish to apply for asylum [1].
I furthermore have a severe problem with categorically saying that Moroccans "have no reason whatsoever to ask for refugee status" - the country is not as bad as it once was, but political activists are still far from safe [2].
It's been 6 months. Have these "new, unpublished, figures" since been published, or otherwise shown to be correct?
In that news article, Timmermans also argued that border closures are not the right solution.
Edit: If https://euobserver.com/migration/132048 is correct, then the 40% refers to the people specifically from Syria. Most of the remaining 60% are from Iraq or Afghanistan. As that link says:
> almost 90 percent the people who arrived by sea in the EU in December came from countries gripped by war or emerged from a wider regional conflict.
I furthermore have a severe problem with categorically saying that Moroccans "have no reason whatsoever to ask for refugee status" - the country is not as bad as it once was, but political activists are still far from safe [2].
[1] http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Training/Practi...
[2] http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/middle-east-and...