EU Commission criticizes "failures" in refugee deal

The EU Commission has complained about the low number of illegal refugees being deported from the Greek islands to Turkey under the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal.

Berlin - This is what the Welt reported, citing a new confidential situation report on the current migration situation from June 2021. "So far, there have been no deportations from Greece in 2021. Deportations were suspended by the Turkish authorities because of the Covid-19 crisis, which they started in March 2020," the document says. "Since March 21, 2016, 2,140 migrants have been deported under the EU-Turkey Agreement and 601 people have been deported under a bilateral agreement between Greece and Turkey." The EU Commission describes this development - literally - as a "failure".

While the number of deportations to Turkey has remained low, according to the document, since the Refugee Deal came into force, the EU has legally resettled 29,427 people to date. Background: At the summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the EU heads of state and government want to resolve an extension of the EU-Turkey refugee deal. The EU Commission is proposing to transfer another 3.5 billion euros to Turkey over the next three years after six billion euros since 2016 to support refugees and secure the border.

The EU governments have yet to approve this plan.

Source: Der Newsticker

Photo: Themanews.com