Turkey- EU Mulls Migrant 'Processing Centres' in Balkans
Date
11/10/2015 3:30:34 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Luxembourg Foreign Minister JeanAsselbornhas asked EUinteriorministersto consider ways to set up facilities in westernBalkansstates to screen some of the tens of thousandsofasylum seekerswho enterGreeceand head north mostly to Germany Reuters reported.
The proposal unveiled byAsselbornafter a meting of EUinteriorministersin Brussels on Monday indicates the bloc’s plan to registerasylum seekersflowing into Europe via Turkey in so-called ‘hotspots’ inItalyandGreecehas done little to tame the migrant influx not seen in Europe since WWII.
More than 200000 people arrived inGreecelast month- more than in whole of 2014 - and most of them headed north on foot or by public transport via Serbia Croatia and Slovenia to western Europe.
Meanwhile just120asylum seekershave been relocated to other EU member states out of a target of 160000 under a distribution quota system supposed to spreadmigrantsfromItalyandGreecearound the Union.
The proposal for Balkan "processing centres" was put forward out of concern thatmigrantsmight be left stranded in both EU and non-EU Balkan states as the winter sets in and richer EU member states like Sweden and Germany warn that their capacity to acceptasylum seekersmay soon be exhausted Reuters said.
"The European Union must do everything to avoid a catastrophe as winter closes in. We cannot let people die from the cold in theBalkans" saidAsselborn who is Luxembourg's minister for migration.
He added thatasylum seekerswould be fingerprinted and allowed to opt to enter the EU's relocation scheme. People not eligible for protection would be returned to their country of origin.
Monday’s meeting of EUinteriorministerschaired byAsselborncame ahead of a special EU-Africa summit in Malta on Wednesday which will discuss ways to reduce the flow ofasylum seekersvia Libya a key migrant route after Turkey and the Balkans.
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