The number of people applying for asylum in the European Union more than doubled in 2015, reaching a record 1.26 million, according to the EU statistics agency. Syrians accounted for almost a third, with 362,775 people seeking shelter in Europe, followed by Afghans and Iraqis, Eurostat said on Friday. The data came as Brussels stepped up warnings to member states to take urgent action to resolve the refugee crisis by agreeing on plans to redistribute asylum seekers around Europe. The European commission also called on countries to lift all internal border controls by November, while stepping up protection of Europe’s external frontiers.

The EU’s migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, echoed apocalyptic warnings from other European leaders when he argued the EU had to save its passport-free Schengen travel zone in order to preserve decades of European integration. “All that we have achieved in the last 60 years is at stake and we have to do what we can to uphold and safeguard these achievements,” he said. The action plan he published, revealed in the Guardian on Wednesday, calls on member states to lift border controls as quickly as possible and with “a clear target date of November 2016”. Since September, eight countries have reintroduced border checks, aimed at preventing large numbers of refugees and migrants entering. Avramopoulos said the actions were in line with EU rules, which allow open borders to be suspended in an emergency. But he urged countries to work towards reopening them as soon as possible, while increasing controls on Europe’s external frontiers. 

“We cannot have free movement if we cannot manage our external border effectively,” he said. But there is rising recognition that a compulsory relocation scheme may not work in the short term. Earlier this week, Turkey’s ambassador to Brussels, Selim Yenel, said there was growing understanding a relocation scheme would have to be voluntary. Speaking on the BBC programme Hard Talk, he added that the EU had to “get its act in order”. He compared “panic” and “chaos” in the EU with Turkey, which is housing more than 2.5 million refugees. “A unity of 500 million can’t handle 1 million, while we have more than 2.5 million. That is really surprising to me.”