In addition, this is a misrepresentation of the nature of migration flows.
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“We have started looking at the possibility of re-admitting asylum seekers, notably from Morocco, Pakistan or Afghanistan”, he said. Turkey’s demands from the Alliance included replacing the term “Aegean air space” with “NATO air space” and refraining from using the Greek names of several tiny islands “that may been seen as the promotion of national interest” – an apparent reference to 16 small islets whose Greek sovereignty has been repeatedly disputed by Ankara. “It’s already spring in the Aegean, so I think we can clearly see a certain change has taken place”. We should not be caught off guard again whether we have a different or similar crisis that triggers humanitarian needs..
On February 11, defense ministers of the 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states chose to send alliance’s naval ships to the Aegean Sea to monitor the flow of migrants between Turkey and Greece.
But EU leaders are set to stand by Greece after having last week promised 700 million euros in emergency aid for the country and other states to help them manage the influx at their borders. Tsipras, struggling with an economy blighted by the euro zone debt crisis, has called for urgent help and insisted Greece will not become a “warehouse of souls”.
More than 400 people have died so far this year trying to cross the sea to Europe and almost 10 times as many refugees and migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 compared with the same period last year. What do you make of them?
Meeting in Paris, the leaders of Germany and France agreed that refugees fleeing war in Syria should stay in the region and said their common objective was to put Europe’s frayed Schengen passport-free travel agreement back into operation. The best way to deal with these organized crime networks is to reduce the need for their services and resettle people in other ways.
He believes Athens could cash in on helping to deport migrants from Europe. The people who were holding on – families, young children, and also older generations – are also being forced to leave.
“Where are we meant go?” Is this the best way for Europe to tackle the crisis? More than 2,000 are estimated to enter the country each day, with about 35,000 refugees overall now staying in Greece. The refugees, who included a pregnant women and newborns, were bussed back to the port city of Izmir.
As EU members continued to bicker, Dimitris Avramopoulos, in charge of migration at the powerful Brussels executive, pointed to upcoming measures, including an overhaul of asylum rules, to help ease tensions. That is the top agenda item of next Monday’s Brussels summit.
Czech President Miloš Zeman said he opposes the European Union making large monetary payments to Turkey in an effort to slow the wave of refugees coming to the EU from Syria.
The closure of the Macedonian border has also re-energised the business of people trafficking.
We also have concerns about the moves to designate Turkey as a safe country. Turkey has only selectively implemented the United Nations refugee convention, not to mention other issues.
In the UK, Cameron is facing pressure from one of his backbenchers and the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, about the prospect of Turkey joining the EU.
The human cost of the crisis was brought home again on Sunday when a boat capsized off Turkey with the loss of 25 lives.
The EU summit, the second of three in Brussels in just over a month, comes just days after a Turkish court ordered the seizure of the opposition Zaman newspaper.
At the moment, I don’t think that’s likely.
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However, it seems as though Germany may not be too keen on the president’s plan or that of the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who suggested Greece be given more time to resolve its budget problems and greater flexibility should be shown.
