As part of the agreement to close the border, EU provided 1,45 billion EUR to TurkeyBrussels, 12 January 2017 (MIA) - The European Union has paid 1,45 billion EUR to Turkey, for projects that involve helping refugees and migrants. Out of this amount, 748 million EUR were direct payments, the European Commission informed on Thursday.
MIA correspondent from Brussels reports that the information was disclosed following a meeting of the board that manages the implementation of the agreement reached in early 2016, that helped put an end to the Balkan migrant route, which was cut at the Macedonian - Greek border. The Commission informed that it will fund construction of schools for refugees to the tune of 200 million EUR, and will introduce an emergency welfare network.
Due to the wars in the Middle East, Turkey became one of the largest recipients of refugees and it requested EU support to handle the situation. Part of the agreement, in which Turkey agreed to strictly police its border. As part of the agreement, the EU promised to introduce visa free travel for Turkish citizens and to restart the long stalled accession talks, but these elements of the deal were not implemented.cc/15:23
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Germany to return new asylum seekers to Greece from March
Berlin, 12 January 2017 (MIA) - Germany will begin returning asylum seekers to Greece from mid-March, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday, essentially lifting a five-year suspension on such transfers because of poor conditions there.
Under the EU's so-called Dublin rules, would-be refugees must file for asylum in the first member-state of the bloc they enter, often the Mediterranean nations of Greece and Italy.
If asylum seekers have travelled on to other EU nations, they are to be returned to their first port of call.
But that requirement had been halted for Greece, which together with Italy has been the main point of entry for the more than one million immigrants who have entered the bloc since 2015 fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
A German interior ministry spokesman told AFP that Germany would reinstate the Dublin rule in two months' time and return newly arrived asylum seekers to their first EU port of call.
"In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15th," said the spokesman, Tobias Plate.
The EU recommended on December 8th that member states resume sending asylum seekers back to Greece from March next year, after such transfers were halted since 2011.
Athens has criticized the EU's assessment, with Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas saying the current legal framework was "unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in".
German refugee relief group Pro Asyl has also raised concerns, warning that the measure would put the asylum system in Greece, a country still recovering from a deep debt and economic crisis, under further pressure.
Photos of refugees living in tents amid heavy snowfall in Greece caused outrage recently, and the European Commission on Monday called such conditions "untenable".
Germany's 2015 decision to open its doors to Syrian refugees, and to effectively suspend Dublin rules for them, brought 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone.
But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel has proved controversial, and the government has since sought to bring numbers down.
Last year, the figure dropped sharply to 280,000 arrivals, largely due to the closure of the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass influx.
The plan to return asylum seekers to Greece could further slash new arrival figures, ahead of general elections expected in September, when immigration is set to figure as a key issue. lk/18:30
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No breakthrough in UN led Cyprus talks
Geneva, 13 January 2017 (MIA) - Talks aiming at reunification of Cyprus did not yield a break-through on Thursday, with both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot side agreeing to continue talking in the coming days.
Newly appointed United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres met with the two leaders Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci and afterwards said that there can be no quick solution to the decades long issue of the island's partition.
"The discussions today underscored the participants’ intention to find mutually acceptable solutions on security and guarantees that address the concerns of both communities. They recognized that the security of one community cannot come at the expense of the security of the other. They also acknowledged the need to address the traditional security concerns of the two communities while at the same time developing a security vision for a future united federal Cyprus", the UN, which hosts the meetings, informed in a press statement.
The island has been divided in a northern Turkish part and a southern Greek part since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded in response to a coup that was coordinated with Greece. The acceptance to the European Union of Cyprus, but effectively only of southern Cyprus, and recent oil and gas finds south of the island have complicated the talks, but also provided an incentive for reunification.
Cypriot Greeks insist that in any solution, the Turkish army forces will need to be removed from the northern part of the island. Turkish Cypriots want this guarantee of their security to remain in place and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that there will be no withdrawal.
Other issues on the table include redrawing the borders between the Turkish and Greek zones, restitution to families who have lost property in the partition, and the possible reduction of the territory held by Britain for its military bases.cc/09:01
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Schaeuble sees ESM role in supervising Greek program
Berlin, 13 January 2017 (MIA) - The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) could supervise Greece’s bailout program in the event that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decides to withdraw, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said.
“If the Fund for some reason decides not to participate, the Europeans… will have to impose what was agreed on, obviously more effectively,” Schaeuble told Suddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday.
The German minister said that, in this event, European lenders would have to “significantly improve” the conditions agreed in a new aid program, including giving the ESM the duty of overseeing the implementation of the Greek prorgram.
He added that this would have to be approved by the German Bundestag.
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