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Europe to be Sending Migrants Back to Greece Starting in March

ap-spain-preparing-to-receive-its-first-refugees-from-greeceEuropean Union member states are to be sending migrants and refugees back to Greece beginning in mid-March, the European Commission announced on Thursday.
The decision was taken so that the EU restores its migration policies which collapsed under a mass influx in 2015. It is estimated that about one million migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe through Greece.
Unable to handle the influx, Greece allowed the migrants and refugees to cross freely to Germany and other wealthy northern European countries. This forced many EU member states to shut their borders, leaving dozens of thousands of refugees and migrants stranded on Greek soil.
Official figures show that there are more than 63,000 migrants and refugees stranded in Greece at present, with the vast majority of them having applied for asylum. Also, the Greek government announced on Wednesday that 13,000 asylum seekers are missing.
“We are recommending the gradual resumption of Dublin transfers of asylum seekers starting next year,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference, with aides saying the date is March 15.
The Commissioner also said Greece has improved in accommodating and registering arriving asylum-seekers.
The regulation will apply from March 15 onward to migrants and refugees who enter countries of the bloc through illegal means, and not for those who have already made the journey.
“This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning … system,” said the Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans.
Under the EU’s Dublin asylum rules, countries where migrants first land must process their asylum requests, and must also take back any asylum seekers who travel to other countries in the bloc. However, the rule was suspended in 2011 since a European court decided that Greece being in the middle of an economic crisis could not process asylum applications or provide proper accommodation to the arriving refugees.
Avramopoulos said that the number of asylum seekers who would return to Greece will be very small. Also, unaccompanied children will not be returned.
Regarding refugees who are stranded in Greece and Italy but are eligible for relocation in other European countries, Avramopoulos said, “Our aim is to relocate all those in Italy and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year.”

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