With almost 4 million people displaced in Iraq, the European Commission is ready to open up its coffers to those EU states willing to host Iraqi refugees.  The asylum issue is to be discussed at a two-day meeting of EU justice and interior ministers in Luxembourg, starting on Thursday (19 April), as some member states, particularly Sweden, are struggling with an increasing influx of refugees from war-torn Iraq.  The commission is willing to use new financial instrument as well as the European refugee fund for 2008, a commission spokesperson said on Wednesday (18 April).  Swedens reception facilities have been under pressure, as the Scandinavian country is the only one within the 27-nation bloc granting refugee status or other protection to almost all Iraqi asylum seekers. A total of 9,065 Iraqis applied for refugee status there in 2006, compared to 2,330 the previous year.    On the other hand, the list of least-welcoming EU states is led by the UK, which has rejected 91 percent out of all the Iraqi requests (1,835) it had received.   (I wonder if thats because Iraqis are blowing up British service personnel on a regular basis?)   Brussels said the overall number of Iraqis seeking refuge in the EU was too small to invoke the so-called temporary protection mechanism under which all refugees would have to be accepted temporarily, without going through lengthy asylum procedures.    The legal tool  designed in response to the 1990 war in the former Yugoslavia - but never used  would force member states to share the burden of refugees, as well as to reduce disparities between their asylum policies.    According to the latest UNHCR estimates, there are at least 1.8 million Iraqis displaced internally and up to 2 million in neighbouring countries.