Greece agrees to recognize Turkey as ‘safe’ country meaning it can turn back refugees.

Greece agrees to recognize Turkey as ‘safe’ country meaning it can turn back refugees. (ekathimerini).

Greek authorities agreed on Friday to recognize Turkey as a “safe third country,” which means migrants for whom Turkey is a country of transit, not of origin, can be returned there.

The decision was announced after a meeting in Athens between Greek Interior Minister Panayiotis Kouroublis and his French and German counterparts, Bernard Cazeneuve and Thomas de Maiziere.

“This is a major step for Greece and we are taking it because we want to show our willingness to find a comprehensive way to address the problem,” said Kouroublis after the meeting. European officials said the shift in Greek policy was a “good start.”

The goal “cannot just be to register arriving refugees and to relocate them equitably [but above all] to reduce the flow,” said de Maiziere at the end of his two-day visit. He added that Germany is sending 100 police officers and two coast guard vessels to Greece.

Cazeneuve said he is in favor of the European Union border agency taking on greater responsibility. Data from the passport-free Schengen zone must include “terrorism [records] by police and intelligence agencies, and conditions must be created to link the Schengen system to other criminal records,” Cazeneuve told reporters.

Greece is under pressure to complete the creation of more “hot spots” for registering refugees and migrants later this month. Athens has enlisted the help of the army to carry out the work.

As of yesterday, 94 prefabricated structures had been delivered to the site in Chios and 87 on Leros. Construction work was under way on Samos, where an old army firing range is being converted.

On Kos, riot police who had been sent to the island from Athens fired tear gas to deter some 100 locals who tried to force their way into a disused army camp that is being turned into a hot spot.

European Union sources told Kathimerini they are hopeful that at least three of the five centers will be ready in the next few days given that the army is now coordinating the work and humanitarian aid has arrived from other EU member states.  Hmmm........Return to sender.

Bulgarian PM Borisov Calls for Immediately Closing EU's External Borders.

Bulgarian PM Borisov Calls for Immediately Closing EU's External Borders. (Novinite).

Bulgarian Prime Minister called on Friday for an immediate closure of the external borders of the EU in view of the ongoing migrant crisis.

Borisov said this during a joint briefing with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban who arrived on a visit to Bulgaria on Thursday evening.

The Bulgarian prime minister noted that European leaders have failed to reach consensus on this issue at several meetings of the European Council.

He expressed hope that at the forthcoming meetings of the European Council the European leaders will be fairer towards the migrants.

In his words, Europe could no longer sustain the refugee influx.

According to him, the return of migrants once they have reached western Europe was even more inhumane than halting them at the external borders.

Borisov was convinced that if earlier calls for closing the external borders had been heard half a year ago, there would have been need for fewer migrants to be returned.

He was firm that the stance of the EU should take into account the common European solidarity as no single state should be left on its own to deal with all the refugees.

During the press conference, Orban called on the EU to admit the success of Bulgaria in dealing with the refugee crisis and to offer the country membership to the Schengen Area.

Macedonia 'Closes Border with Greece to Migrants'

Macedonia 'Closes Border with Greece to Migrants'. (Novinete).

Greece says Macedonia is no longer allowing migrants to enter the country on their way to Central and Western Europe, ABC news reports.

Skopje officials did not immediately comment, but Athens maintains the border has effectively been sealed off to migrants for several days.

Macedonia announced in November it would only let in people seeking asylum from countries where conflict is raging, such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The step was announced as a result of similar decisions from Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Last week, some EU member states' governments suggested the EU should ask Bulgaria and Macedonia, Greece's northern neighbors, for more cooperation if Athens fails to provide the border controls needed to curb the flow of migrants into Europe.

Dutch plan for EU ‘refugee swap’ with Turkey.

Dutch plan for EU ‘refugee swap’ with Turkey. (EUObserver).

The Netherlands is gathering support among a group of EU countries for a plan to accept “a couple hundred thousand refugees per year” from Turkey, in exchange for sending back all illegal migrants that arrive in Greece.

The plan was revealed on Thursday (28 January) by Dutch social-democrat leader Diederik Samsom in an interview with newspaper De Volkskrant, and has the support of prime minister Mark Rutte.

The Netherlands currently holds the rotating six-month EU presidency.

“I think there is a realistic chance that by this spring a leading group of EU countries will have an agreement with Turkey about a legal migration route for a couple hundred thousand refugees per year, in exchange for [Turkey] accepting back everyone who enters [the EU] via Greece,” Samsom told the paper's Brussels correspondent.

The idea is to distribute "between 150,000 and 250,000" refugees among EU countries who voluntarily take part in the plan. #BS  ----->

A first meeting about the plan took place in December, with Rutte, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Swedish prime minister Stefan Loefven, and Dutch EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.





Samsom noted he has been speaking “intensively” with Germany, Austria, and Sweden “because they have social-democrats in the government”.

“In the worst case scenario, only these countries plus a few like France, Spain, and Portugal take part,” he said, adding that France has been “dodging” the issue.

“When I call prime minister Valls [about the plan], he says 'interessant, tres interessant', and hopes I don't ask any further.”

While under the Samsom plan reluctant member states would not be forced to take up any refugees, they would have to pitch in financially. The plan, which he described as “the permanent [EU] asylum system”, would be funded from the EU budget.

For the plan to work and for illegal migrants to be sent back to Turkey “by return ferry”, Turkey would have to be considered a safe country by United Nations criteria. Hmmmm.......Why do i have the feeling that the EU population is watching a Kabuki theater performance? Read more here.

#Turkey PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu tells Turkish businesspeople in #Germany that hundreds of thousands of #Syrians will likely come to Germany

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) January 23, 2016

Sweden to deport nearly 80,000 asylum seekers amid migrant-linked violence.

Sweden to deport nearly 80,000 asylum seekers amid migrant-linked violence. (RT).

Sweden is planning to expel nearly 80,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in the country in 2015, Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said, adding that their applications for asylum had been rejected.

“We are talking about 60,000 people, but the number could climb to 80,000,” Swedish media quoted Ygeman as saying.

Police and local authorities have been tasked with organizing the departures by charter flights. The countries of origin of the rejected asylum seekers have not been disclosed.

Sweden, which has the population of 9.8 million people, is one of the EU countries that took in the largest share of refugees per head of population. In 2015, it accepted over 160,000 refugees and migrants. Hmmm........If they can find them?  Read the full story here.

Related: 14,000 Undocumented Migrants Vanish Without a Trace in Sweden

The country's Migration Agency told 21,748 people to leave Sweden a month ago, Aftonbladet reported on Friday, but now 14,140 of them have been listed as "departed" or "wanted," with no further information.

Some are thought to be keeping a low profile somewhere within the country; others are believed to have crossed the Swedish border. "We simply don't know where they are," the newspaper quoted Patrik Engström, Director of Sweden's National Operations Division (NOA), as saying.