German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has unveiled a new plan to reform the European asylum system.
A draft of the proposal leaked to the media shows that all member states of the European Union would be required to take in illegal migrants.
Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are opposed to mandatory relocations on the basis that decisions about the granting of residence permits should be kept at the national level.
They have noted that by unilaterally imposing migrant quotas on EU member states, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels are seeking to force the democratically elected leaders of Europe to submit to their diktat.
Indeed, the continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.