Turkey- EU intents to keep migrants close to their countries of origin
Date
9/19/2015 12:18:52 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A senior EU official said Saturday that the 28-member block should help countries on the front line in the refugee crisis and also strengthen their external borders.
Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Macedonia European Union enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said that the EU needs to assist Balkan countries to cope with the influx of migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
As part of the initiative to encourage people fleeing war in Syria to stay in bordering countries Hahn has proposed a fund of about $1.1 billion for Turkey to cope with the migrant crisis.
Hahn said that the money will also help people to stay in the region in order to return to their home country as soon as the conditions there would permit.
Syria's war has forced more than four million people to leave their country.
About half have crossed into Turkey while more than a million are currently living in Lebanon and nearly 630000 in Jordan.
Meanwhile Austria welcomed some 3000 migrants in two locations early Saturday.
Austria's welcome
About 1500 migrants crossed from Hungary into Austria on foot in the border town of Nickelsdorf where they met by police and Red Cross workers who ushered them onto buses headed to Vienna.
In another Austrian border town approximately 1600 migrants on buses provided by Hungary arrived in Heiligenkreuz where they boarded buses to Vienna and Austria's second largest city Graz.
"We see the pictures how the situation is at other borders where people are treated badly" said Lieutenant Colonel Manfred Tschank the local police commander. "We the Austrian police assisted by the Austrian army have a slightly different approach. We try to calm the people down we try to build an atmosphere of confidence and we have succeeded so far. The people feel safer [in Austria] than in other countries this is to our advantage but also to the advantage of these people."
Croatia
Croatia sent at least 1000 migrants to Hungary by train and bus Friday after saying Croatia can no longer register or accommodate the new arrivals.
Hungary accused Croatia of letting it and the European Union down by not adequately defending the bloc’s external frontier.
However the migrants from Croatia were put onto other trains and buses by Hungary that police say were headed to registration points near the border with Austria.
More than 430000 migrants seeking a better life including refugees from Syria and Iraq have crossed into Europe this year. Migration watchers say nearly 3000 have died trying.
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