“On paper everyone agrees that we have to defend Schengen and external borders but then many member states have different views of what it actually means”, said another diplomat. The new processing centers could overlap between places of accommodation and asylum processing centers.
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For hundreds of thousands of migrants heading to Europe from the Middle East, the salvation route lies through Greece and the Western Balkans, with the ultimate destination in Germany and other northern European Union countries.
In return, Europe will offer up to 3.6 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in development funds in a fresh thrust by the wealthy European Union to tackle the wars and poverty in Africa that are among the root causes of the migration flow.
“The system is now up and running – the first flight from Greece [has left] and there were already several flights from Italy – and we’re hoping that progress on the ground and progress with member states will be made swiftly”, Ernst told CNN last week.
Hungary is sending 50 police officers to Slovenia to help its neighbor with the large flow of migrants traveling through the country.
According to the global Organization for Migration, more than 220,000 migrants arrived in Greece by sea in October and more than 220 died in the waters between Turkey and Greece that month. Numbers of migrants and refugees leaving the country are also influenced by the days of the week on which ferries leave the Aegean islands for Athens and Kavala.
About 4,500 people were waiting in a queue of 90 buses early Monday morning, while another 1,500 were waiting in tents that have been set up in the Idomeni border area.
The camp has been set up on the border to provide facilities for those waiting, including tents, food, water, showers and areas for mothers with young babies.
New arrivals are continuously being reported by Greek authorities.
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Following the meeting, European commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said efforts to relocate migrants in other EU countries need to be stepped up. “Last month was a record month for arrivals”, United Nations refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said, pointing out that “arrivals in October paralleled the entire 2014”.UNHCR said in October that it was planning for up to 700,000 refugees in Europe this year and a similar or greater number in 2016.
