European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas on Monday announced that work coordinating the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement began at the Commission on Friday, with the first meeting of the member-state representatives to assess Greece’s needs and promptly send help held on Saturday.
He added the legal arrangements may take some time, while repeating that the key date for the start of returns to Turkey of all new arrivals of irregular migrants on the Greek islands is March 20. The aim was to begin returns as soon as possible, he added.
The meeting on Saturday chiefly discussed Greece’s needs in terms of additional expert staff that will be sent by the member-states and the relevant European agencies (EASO and Frontex). The Commission’s spokesperson for migration issues Natasha Bertaud noted these needs were currently estimated at 4,000 people, of which 1,500 will be Greeks and the remaining 2,500 will be from other EU countries. The aim is that the transfer of personnel will start immediately and be completed by March 28, she said.
Resettlement programme
With respect to the parallel 1:1 resettlement programme from Turkey, Bertaud said this was scheduled to begin on April 4. Asked to comment on a spike in arrivals on Sunday, when some 1000 new arrivals came to the Greek islands from Turkey, Bertaud stressed that the Commission was “aware of the difficulties” and was doing everything possible to implement the agreement.
Schinas commented that the in wake of the European Council decisions, the European Commission on Monday submitted a proposal to amend the legislation for the relocation scheme so that the 54,000 relocation positions not currently assigned to any particular country be converted to resettlement positions for the 1:1 refugee exchange scheme. These positions will be added to the 18,000 resettlement positions that the EU member-states had already committed to accept on a voluntary basis last July.
With respect to the relocation process, the Commission disclosed that this will now focus on the 50,000-plus refugees that are currently in Greece but predicted that this will concern only small numbers of refugees that for some reason cannot be safely returned to Turkey. The asylum applications and any appeals by these individuals will be examined in Greece and possibly some of these, if they meet the criteria, will qualify for the relocation process, Commission officials said.
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