European Council President Donald Tusk, whose homeland Poland will be sued for refusing to take refugees and migrants, argued that quotas for European Union countries should be scrapped, leaving them abandoned in Greece and Italy.
There are more than 64,000 in Greece, including more than 15,000 on islands near the coast of Turkey where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has let human traffickers operate despite a suspended swap plan with the EU.
European Commission migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos, a veteran Greek politician, has wavered for nearly two years and said trying to force EU countries to honor pledges to take in refugees and migrants was too delicate before it was reported they would take to the EU’s highest court.
But Tusk, in a move that would protect his country from being prosecuted, is planning to tell EU leaders to get rid of the refugee quota scheme, the British newspaper The Guardian reported, setting a six-month deadline for the 28 countries to come up with unanimous approval for a new asylum scheme.
If that doesn’t happen, he said he’ll bring forward his own. The council is made up of the heads of state of the EU countries which sets policy although there is also a European Commission President and a European Parliament President.
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RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Irish Defence Forces License: CC-BY-SA
Source: thenationalherald.com
