UK Edition
EU prepares to deport migrants to Turkey
Europe is planning to press ahead with the return of hundreds of migrants from Greece to Turkey on Monday in a show of force aimed at ending uncontrolled migration into Europe and drawing a line under the worst migration crisis in Europe since the Second World War.
Greek government officials told The Telegraph that plans were in place to begin shipping Syrian and other migrants back to Turkey as part a controversial repatriation deal signed between the EU and Turkey last month.
“We believe the necessary logistics will be in place by Monday for the deportations to go ahead,” the Greek official said, although warned that there was still a risk of last-minute delays.
A European official told the AFP news agency that 500 migrants comprising “Syrians who have not requested asylum, Afghans and Pakistanis” would be the first to be returned.
Frontex, the EU border agency responsible for conducting the deportations declined to confirm that number or whether preparations would be complete by Monday’s deadline.
The migrants are expected to be returned via ship from departing from Mytilene, the port on Lesbos, to Ayvalik, the small town where the normal Turkish passenger ferry for Lesbos docks and departs. The land border at Alexandroupoli is also being considered.
The start of deportations would mark a symbolically important moment for Europe’s new hardline policy towards refugees which is designed to “break the business model” of smuggler gangs and end the chaotic scenes of last year when more than a million migrants flooded into Europe.
Monday will also see the start of a fast-track asylum hearings process for more than 5,000 migrants who have been detained in holding camps in the Greek islands since March 20 when migrants were no longer allowed free passage to the Greek mainland.
Europe has promised more than 2,000 support staff, including lawyers and border agency officials to process the claims, although last night a Greek official said that less than 500 had materialised so far.
The decision to take what UK officials have called a “robust” approach to international asylum law has angered aid agencies and refugee charities and led to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to publicly warn the EU to observe the 1951 Refugee Convention.
With 3,000 migrants arriving in the islands since March 20, tensions are building, with a detention facility on the island of Chios is already nearly 50 percent over capacity and protests by detainees occurring daily.
Migration experts warned of potentially damaging scenes if migrants decided to resist deportation.
“I don’t think they are going to go quietly, some are even threatening to throw themselves into the sea,” said Dr Angeliki Dimitriadi, migration expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR, who predicted asylum requests would rise as a result of the deportations.
Meanwhile, in a further signal of EU determination not resist and obstruct migrant flows, Austria announced tough new plans to reject almost all asylum-seekers at its borders as it continues a crackdown against migrants.
Under the new measures which were set up after EU courts ruled a previous plan illegal, all asylum claims will be decided within an hour at the country’s borders.
Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, said asylum-seekers would no longer be allowed to cross to Germany.
If Germany wants to accept asylum-seekers, “they must be picked up from where they are, before they make an illegal journey,” Mr Faymann added.