Angela Merkel’s patience runs out as she ORDERS Greece to send migrants back to Turkey
ANGELA Merkel has taken Greece to task over its failure to process thousands of migrant claims and reluctance to send failed asylum-seekers back to Turkey.
By SIMON OSBORNE
Express.co.uk
Thu, Sep 29, 2016
More than 60,000 asylum-seekers are trapped in overcrowded Greek camps where they are forced to live in squalid conditions and are in constant danger of violence and exploitation.
Clashes between refugees of different nationalities have become commonplace in shanty towns on the eastern Aegean Islands where migrants making treacherous journeys across the sea from Turkey usually land.
Mrs Merkel is reported to have raised her concerns with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras when they met at a migration summit of European leaders from ten central and southeastern countries.
Her spokesman Steffen Seibert said Greece “has to do better” at sending back to Turkey any Syrians whose requests for asylum were rejected.
This is a key element of the EU-Turkey migration deal from earlier this year which sees the EU resettling one Syrian refugee from Turkey for each one returned.
Mr Seibert said: “There’s certainly a lot still to be done in the implementation of what is still an important part of the EU-Turkey agreement.
The blunt exchanges at the talks in Vienna came amid a growing sense of frustration in Berlin which has previously showed support for cash-strapped Greece as it found itself at the gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing into Europe from Turkey.
The Rest…HERE
