The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said on Friday 13 March that she was satisfied with the additional commitments received from a dozen Member States on the relocation of unaccompanied migrant minors present on the Greek islands.
At this stage, seven Member States have made firm commitments to relieve Greece's burden by taking in “at least 1600” unaccompanied minors in care, “but even more Member States have said they are ready” to act or to consider it, Ylva Johansson said after the meeting of EU Interior Ministers. Several Member States also expressed their willingness to take care of minors present in Malta or Cyprus.
According to one source, these volunteer countries are Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, Portugal, France, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Lithuania, Croatia, Switzerland and Norway.
Some countries, such as Luxembourg, will start welcoming these isolated young people as early as next week, the Commissioner said, for whom the tensions at the Greek-Turkish borders have created “a momentum”.
In September 2019, the Greek government had called on its partners to take care of young migrants or vulnerable persons, but only Portugal had responded. The former President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had used this argument to convince countries such as Poland and Hungary to participate in the relocation of migrants.
Despite the momentary breakdown of the EU/Turkey agreement of March 2016, “2,300 migrants have arrived in Greece since 28 February”, said Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović. It is estimated that almost 20,000 people arrived at the Greek border after the Turkish authorities opened their borders with Greece.
As she had already done the day before during a visit to Greece (see EUROPE 12445/11), the European Commissioner insisted on the need for Athens to respect international law with regard to migrants on its territory. The aim is to ensure that they can file “an asylum application” and receive “an individual decision”, in accordance with the “principle of non-refoulement”.
For migrants in Turkey, Mrs Johansson also said that the EU was already helping them through the EU/Turkey Declaration of 2016, which provides for a total of 6 billion euros in financial support for refugees. “We are not planning any further aid”, she said, “unless the EU/Turkey agreement is renewed”.
In addition, the Croatian Minister stated that the Greek requests to manage its border were gradually finding a positive European response. The European agency Frontex has confirmed the dispatch of 100 additional coastguards along part of the River Evros, which serves as a border with Turkey. And to speed up the processing of asylum applications filed in Greece, “160 experts” from the EASO office will be deployed, Mr Božinović said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)