For refugees who flock to the Turkish-Greek border, the path to the European Union is closed. This was announced by a representative of the German government, Steffen Seibert, DW reports.
“We are now experiencing a situation of serious concern on the external borders of the European Union and Turkey, on land and at sea. We see refugees and migrants who are told by the Turkish side that their path to the EU is open, which, of course, is not true.” – said Seibert.
When asked whether the statement made by Chancellor Angela Merkel made after the recent migration crisis is true that 2015 should not be repeated, the government representative answered in the affirmative.
Merkel, speaking in Berlin on Monday, said Turkey’s opening of the border for refugees in the direction of the EU was unacceptable. According to the chancellor, Ankara’s desire to achieve greater EU support in this matter is understandable, but it’s “completely unacceptable” that they are trying to achieve this goal “on the backs of refugees”.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz previously announced the need for better EU border reinforcement. “The situation of 2015 should never be repeated,” he wrote on Facebook, declaring the goal to “stop illegal migrants on the external borders of the EU.”
Meanwhile, the European agency for the protection of external borders Frontex in a report for EU leaders reports that the “mass flow of people” in the direction of Greece will be difficult to stop even if the Turkish authorities prevent it. This was announced on Monday by Die Welt. According to the report, the situation will worsen in the coming days.
Recall that on February 29, Turkey opened the borders with the EU for migrants. Hundreds of people went to the border on foot.
Turkey decided to open the borders after the escalation of hostilities in the Syrian province of Idlib, where 33 Turkish soldiers died as a result of attacks by troops of Bashar al-Assad and the Russian Federation.