German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging migrants in the squalid tent city at Idomeni, on the Greek-Macedonian border, to trust Greek authorities and leave for better accommodation as thousands are still staying on site after the closure of Macedonia’s border.
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Migrants block a railway Tuesday during a protest demanding the opening of the border between Greece and Macedonia in the nor… Hundreds of mostly Syrian asylum-seekers continued to arrive… The numbers have jumped dramatically to 22,956 March arrivals so far this year in Greece, according to data from the United Nations.
He arrived before the weekend deal came into effect so he is able to travel to the Greek mainland.
A commission spokesman, on Monday, did want to speculate on how fast the individual claims will be assessed but they are expected to take approximately one week.
Asked what would happen to refugees and migrants who arrived on the island since the new scheme came into force, he said: “We’ll see, we don’t know”.
But officials insist they received verbal assurances, in private meetings with the Turkish delegation, that the legislation would be altered. Yesterday, however, the two sides were still working out details of how the migrants will be sent back. “Everyone who does not get asylum will be returned to Turkey – that is not something pleasant”.
But European officials have stressed that each application for asylum will be treated individually, with full rights of appeal and proper oversight.
Amnesty International said the deal “is seriously legally and morally flawed”.
She told The Associated Press that “Turkey does not offer adequate protection to anyone”.
On the same date, under the agreement, the resettlement of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey to other European countries should start. Also, there is talk of appealing to “ferries from the private market”, including from Turkey.
The UNHCR is concerned that the EU-Turkey deal is being prematurely implemented without required safeguards in place in Greece, the spokesman said.
“We are creating between 500 and 1,000 additional shelter places every day… and the total right now is 36,000”, Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas said.
The border was closed this month, blocking the Balkan migration route along which a million refugees passed a year ago.
Uncertainty is making the new arrivals nervous.
The agency said it would no longer transport refugees by bus to the centres because they were being held there against their will.
At least 1,662 new arrivals were recorded by the Greek authorities from Sunday night to Monday afternoon, according to official data released by Greece’s Refugees Crisis Management Mechanism.
Erdogan said Turkey had agreed to a refugee deal with the EU to prevent Syrian refugees from being subjected to “derogatory treatment” at European borders.
One UNHCR official, who said she was not authorised to speak officially, said she was not clear about the procedure.
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Police said Monday they are suspected of organizing accommodations, transfers and the smuggling of seven illegal migrants from Turkey and Syria to Hungary for 5,250 euros ($5,910). “The real solution to this issue in the eyes of many of Europeans are the barbed wires along the Greek border”.
