Refugees

Merkel: Balkans-Blockade does not scare

The situation at the border crossing Idomeni in Greece is getting worse. Macedonia increases its troop presence. Chancellor Merkel said to the Greeks for help, there appeared to be but also failures.

“Who is fleeing the bombs in Aleppo or in front of the murderers of the IS, the the circumstances in Greece”, said the Chancellor as a shock in an Interview with the East German newspaper “people’s voice”. The bad situation on the border with Macedonia, would not deter the refugees, gave Angela Merkel is convinced. Due to the closing of the Balkan Route through Austria and other countries in transition Idomeni are stuck at the border continue around 7,000 refugees under miserable conditions.

Merkel again called for “permanent” solutions, “which are not unilaterally set up something what you have to endure other countries”. At the EU Meeting at 7. March will assess the situation and further action, she said the sheet. Your objective European decisions remained the total.

“Policy, ending the beckoning”

Even the crisis-wracked Greece even before the Chancellor omissions. Athens was obliged to create by the end of 2015 to 50,000 places for refugees to facilitate the resettlement and distribution in Europe, “what happened was not so”. At your Meeting with her Croatian colleague Tihomir Oreskovic in Berlin, she had reprimanded the attitude of the government in Athens and, as required, at the recent EU summit decided, needed to stop the “politics of beckoning” of refugees.

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Stranded in Greece (01.03.2016)

They appealed at the same time, the refugees would have to use the centres also. It does not give “a right that a refugee can say, I want to get into a certain country of the EU asylum”. The CDU leader hinted that Germany would not absorb directly to refugees from the Balkans, such as in September after the dramatic Situation in Hungary.

The Greek government wants to supply the refugees almost half a billion euros of emergency aid from the EU. “We can’t carry the load by all the incoming refugees,” said a government spokesperson, a request for 480 million euros. Athens expect that within a short time, around 100,000 people would have to be. Brussels wants to introduce this Wednesday for an emergency aid package.

After the Macedonian police on Monday used tear gas against the refugees, the EU Commission is “very concerned”. “This is not our idea of how the crisis is managed, should be,” said a spokeswoman. International legal standards should be adhered to.

Macedonian forces have intensified military presence at the border at Idomeni

Nevertheless, mobilized the government in Skopje additional soldiers: “said, We have increased the number of troops to reinforce the border guard police”, the Macedonian military spokesman Toni Janevski. Also, the police presence had been increased “as a preventive measure after the events of yesterday.”

Doubt as to the cooperation of the Turkey

Turkey has so far failed to curb the illegal Migration towards Europe and also a Nato Mission against people smugglers in the Aegean sea is slowed down by the Turkey, apparently. If the government refuse to accept the German demand, to send ships in Turkish territorial waters, said Nato diplomats Agence France Presse. The use in the Aegean from the slopes now, as the negotiations between Berlin and Ankara were.

Since the beginning of the year to 131,000 people came across the Mediterranean to Europe, such as the UN refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced. The UNHCR accused the EU to have a “contradictory” handling of the refugee crisis, Chaos and suffering.

SC/yy (afp, rtr, people’s voice, ARD)