Major Migrant Crisis in Europe
Europe
is currently searching the ways to tackle a major migrant crisis as
thousands of people are traveling across the Mediterranean Sea from
conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central
and South Asia, to reach European shores.
In early August, the United Nations said that 250,000 migrants had arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2015.
In early August, the United Nations said that 250,000 migrants had arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2015.
Refugee Quotas for EU States to Remain Unchanged Despite EU-Turkey Deal
©
AP Photo/ Vadim Ghirda
A migration agreement between Brussels and Ankara does not envisage changes to the EU refugee quota system, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Friday.
VILNIUS
(Sputnik) — According to the Lithuanian president, she proposed
on Thursday to agree on protective measures to ensure that the
previously specified and agreed quotas remained in place. Lithuania has
agreed to take in 1,105 refugees until 2017, under a European Commission
quota scheme aimed at redistributing 160,000 migrants across EU member
states.
According
to Grybauskaite, the agreement with Turkey will be the first test
of Europe's ability to control the inflow of undocumented immigrants,
as other migration routes to Europe may emerge in the future.
A two-day European Council summit on migration opened in Brussels
on Thursday. EU leaders reached the agreement on the action plan earlier
on Friday. The European Union pledged to provide 3 billion euros (over
$3.3 billion) to Turkey to help it to deal with the undocumented
migrants, with the provision of an additional 3 billion-euro allocation
among other possible measures.
"If the agreed quota is exceeded…if we see that
the numbers are increasing progressively, it will mean that the program
and the system do not work, the whole mechanism does not work, and it
should be terminated," Grybauskaite said in a phone interview with the
Baltic News Service agency.
The EU-Turkey agreement is due to take effect on Sunday. It
envisages, in particular, Turkey taking back all undocumented migrants
who enter Greece from Turkey and sends in return approved Syrian
refugees on a one-for-one principle.
©
AFP 2016/ ARIS MESSINIS