Greece - Page 23

Contents: EU desperation continues on second day of EU-Turkey refugee deal; Humanitarian agencies condemn the EU-Turkey refugee deal

(Reuters) – Turkish officials arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday to help implement a deal with the European Union to tackle a migrant crisis that has tested European cohesion to its limits. The day after the formal

LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) – They waved, cheered and smiled, elated to have made it to Europe at dawn on Sunday in a packed blue rubber motor boat. The 50 or so refugees and migrants were among the first to arrive

Greece will not be able to start sending refugees back to Turkey from Sunday, the government said, as the country struggles to implement a key deal aimed at easing Europe’s migrant crisis. Under the agreement clinched between Brussels and Anakara

Greece’s interior minister on Friday likened the grim camp holding thousands of refugees on the border with Macedonia to the Nazi concentration camp Dachau. His comments came as EU leaders were meeting in Brussels to try to reach a deal

Dozens of migrants are rioting over free food handed out outside a football stadium in Greece, with reports of injuries near the Piraeus port where nearly 5,000 migrants are living at the passenger terminals. Local Greek media reports state that rioting began shortly after 7pm, when around

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday he was confident that EU leaders and Turkey would reach an agreement during a two-day summit on a plan to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. “I’m pretty

In his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis launched an appeal to the nations of the world to open their hearts and their doors to migrants who are standing “at the border,” in an apparent reference to the many migrants camped

(Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk has stressed in a note to EU leaders that a planned deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to Greek islands will be a “temporary and extraordinary measure”. The note, seen

The German press is alleging that former cabinet minister Norbert Blüm was directly involved with the migrants who left Idomeni to march on Macedonia. A pamphlet has arisen which supposedly shows a map of routes out of Greece. At the

(Reuters) – The European Union should grant Turkish citizens visa-free access if Turkey meets a “critical mass” of legal conditions, the EU Commission will say on Wednesday, offering concessions to Ankara in the hope of sealing a deal on sending

Some 1,500 migrants who managed to cross into Macedonia, despite the border being closed to them for a week, have been sent back to Greece by Macedonian troops, officials said Tuesday. The desperate group of men, women and children had

Blond haired activists with piercings and dreadlocks allegedly led three migrants to their deaths yesterday, distributing inaccurate maps and corralling them across a river. Hundred of migrants have been returned to Greece, and the activists walked free with €250 fines. Around

The President of Macedonia has laid into the German Chancellor for exposing all of Europe to jihadi terror and a migrant influx — which could potentially reach 20 million — due to her open invitation to so-called ‘refugees’. “The refugee

Migrants have placed their babies, toddlers and young children on railway tracks in Greece in a bid to blackmail European authorities into reopening their borders. The children were placed on tracks leading to Macedonia at the Idomeni refugee camp on

(Reuters) – The cost of managing the migrant crisis in Greece will exceed a previous estimate of 600 million euros (465.74 million pound) as more and more refugees are forced to remain in the country, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis

(Reuters) – A draft European Union plan to send back some migrants to Turkey has legal and moral flaws and could put vulnerable people at risk, the head of Amnesty International said, calling on Europe to take in more people

Speaking to a German newspaper, the President of Macedonia has said his country has been “left in the lurch” by the European Union (EU), which has lavished money and support on Turkey but ignored their work to stem the migrant

(Reuters) – Macedonia hopes stopping migrants at its border with Greece, which has effectively closed the Balkan route into northern Europe, will help the country join NATO, Defence Minister Zoran Jolevski said on Thursday. Macedonia’s bid to join the defence

The celebrity pilgrimages to migrant camps, so familiar in Calais, have now begun in Greece, with the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei visiting the Macedonian border yesterday. “Thousands of people are stuck here,” Mr. Waiwai observed. “You can’t believe this is happening

(AFP) – EU interior ministers were set to meet in Brussels Thursday to discuss the migrant crisis after western Balkan nations slammed shut their borders, exacerbating a dire humanitarian situation on the Macedonian frontier. The scheduled two-day meeting will tackle

Contents: Bizarre EU-Turkey one-for-one refugee deal meets strong opposition; Europe faces two additional major crises: Grexit and Brexit

Startling images are emerging, portraying the reality of life in the many migrant tent city encampments that have sprung up along the Macedonian border with Greece. Heavy rain and flooding hit the camps yesterday, which have seen brawls and escalating violence

Contents: Turkey and Hungary play hardball at EU-Turkey refugee summit; With summer approaching, European politicians may be close to panic

Turkey drove a hard bargain at yesterday’s talks with the EU, doubling the amount of money previously promised by EU leaders to €6 billion and securing accelerated access to the Schengen free movement zone for its 75 million citizens. The

Turkey has made a series of steep last minute demands ahead of today’s talks with the European Union (EU). Diplomats say the migrant crisis deal is now in danger, but Turkey has insisted they’re not “blackmailing” the EU. The Turkish delegation demanded an increase on the

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said “closing borders” is “not an option” and demanded a sentence declaring the “western Balkans [migrant] route closed” is crossed out in a statement from the European Union (EU) summit with Turkish leaders today. EU

Contents: Number of women and children refugees to Europe surges; EU and Turkey meet in Brussels for major showdown over refugees; Death of Nancy Reagan reminds us of generational differences

(AFP) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the “urgent” relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country. He made the call on the

Ahead of the major migrant crisis talks to be held in Brussels on Monday, the European Union (EU) has announced it is to close off the Balkan route completely and begin the return of economic migrants, but this progress may

Greece is likely to receive another 100,000 migrants by the end of the month, Europe’s migration commissioner warned on Saturday, two days ahead of an EU-Turkey summit seen as the only viable solution to the crisis. As EU members continued

European leaders will push Turkey at a summit on Monday to agree to large scale deportations of economic migrants from Greece, as EU chief Donald Tusk says he sees the first hints of a resolution to the migrant crisis. With

The Bulgarian army yesterday conducted a major exercise on the Greek border, testing their capacity to deal with a migrant influx. The Prime Minister slammed the Greek response to the crisis and offered up his forces to deal with migrants.

The Royal Navy is to deploy a ship to the seas between Greece and Turkey to assist with the escalating migrant crisis. The RFA Mounts Bay, a landing ship dock of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, will join a NATO maritime group

(Reuters) – Greece needs to deliver quickly on its promise to provide accommodation for 50,000 refugees and the European Union should help Athens with this task, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a media interview published on Saturday. Austria, one

(Reuters) – A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrians to four years in jail over the drowning of five people including toddler Aylan Kurdi, the image of whose dead body sparked global sympathy last September over the fate of