Those nations, among others, want the European Union to apply its budget rules with flexibility, taking into account Europe’s biggest refugee emergency in well over half a century, and avoid reprimanding member states for excessive spending and deficits.
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Sweden is reportedly keen to tap into Hungary’s relocation quota after the Central European country – mainly a country of transit for migrants – refused the EU’s offer to relieve it of 54,000 arrivals on procedural grounds. Should government authorities or other partners not be in a position to provide alternative arrangements, as an interim measure, UNHCR will consider providing transportation to reception centres to expedite access by refugees and asylum-seekers to assistance and protection services, while reducing their exposure to the elements.
UNHCR is providing aid at over 40 sites in Greece, including 20 islands and islets, among them the main destination, Lesbos. More than 300,000 people have traveled on dinghies and boats from nearby Turkey to Greek islands this year, … That’s more than the 216,000 who crossed into Europe in 2014.
About 52 percent of the estimated more than 750,000 migrants are Syrians, followed by migrants from Afghanistan (19 percent), Iraq (6 percent) and Eritrea (5 percent).
Syrians make up the greatest single number of asylum-seekers so far this year, but they’re outnumbered overall by those from the Balkans.
The Frontex border agency last month asked for 775 extra border guards to streamline the processing of migrants.
So far this year, more than 700,000 people fleeing war and looking for safety or a better life have entered the territory, with chaotic consequences for governments throughout the European Union who have not yet worked out a strategy for coping with the huge numbers.
The European Union is predicting that three million more migrants could arrive in the 28-nation bloc by the end of next year.
Greek ferries are tied up in port for a fourth day, stranding tens of thousands of residents of small islands, preventing agricultural produce from reaching mainland markets and trapping thousands of refugees on eastern Aegean islands.
The Greek coastguard said the children died off the island of Kos hours before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Parliament chief Martin Schulz began a visit to neighbouring Lesbos, another migration flashpoint.
More than 590,000 refugees have entered crisis-hit Greece via its long Mediterranean sea boundary with Turkey this year, putting even more pressure on a country struggling to lift itself out of its debt crisis.
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His father, who was among 14 people rescued from the sticken vessel, had told rescuers that he had been unable to save his son from drowning and had had to let his body go in order to help other passengers. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use.
