Migrant flows from Turkey to Greece pick up again

The Mail — Hundreds of migrants are flocking into Europe through the Greek islands as they make a mockery of the EU’s 6 billion euro deal with Turkey.

International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millman said: ‘The arrivals in Greece which were down to literally zero some days this month, are beginning to creep back up.

‘It could be the weather, it could be any number of things, it could be that smugglers are getting more creative.

‘It could be that there is just still a lot of demand in Turkey…people have already spent months to get to Turkey and where there is a will and where there is means, people will try to satisfy them.

The EU signed an agreement with Turkey last month to close off the main route into Europe across the Aegean, but the deal has started to falter.

European Council president Donald Tusk, who chaired the negotiations, warned there was a danger of ‘blackmail’ if the EU relied on others to solve the migrant problem.

‘No one else is going to protect our borders for us. We cannot hand over the keys to our territory, to our security, to any third country,’ he said.

‘This applies to Turkey as well as to north African countries. Our helplessness would tempt others to blackmail Europe.’

Mr Tusk appeared to criticise German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision last summer to disregard EU rules and open her country’s doors to all Syrian migrants.

‘Europe ignored its own principles and laws, thus demonstrating weakness and indecision,’ he said.

The former Polish prime minister also seemed to take issue with Mrs Merkel agreeing to the Turkish president’s request for her to give the go ahead for the prosecution of a comedian who mocked him on TV.

Under German law, the chancellor can authorise someone to face investigation for insulting the head of state of another country.

Mr Tusk said: ‘Recent experience with Turkey shows that Europe must set clear limits to its concessions. We can negotiate money but never our values.

‘We cannot impose our standards on the rest of the world. Equally, others cannot impose their standards on us.

‘Our freedoms, including freedom of expression, will not be part of political bargaining with any partner. The Turkish president must heed this message.’

As part of the EU-Turkey deal, it was agreed that all those arriving on the Greek islands would be sent back, however so far only 325 have been returned.

An estimated 180,245 migrants have entered Europe by sea so far this year, with 154,227 coming through Greece.

There has been an increase in numbers arriving from North Africa to Italy in the past three weeks. Some 25,586 landed so far this year, including 6,200 in the first two weeks of April alone.

Up to 500 people are thought to have drowned in a shipwreck off Libya last weekend.