Greece warns migrants cannot be bottled up on its territory

ATHENS: Greece delivered a stark warning on Saturday on the eve of an emergency summit over the migration crisis, declaring that it cannot stop tens of thousands of people from crossing its northern border and travelling onwards in Europe.

Nikolaos Toskas, the Greek minister for public order said that Europe was deluding itself by believing that refugees could be bottled up in his country.

The European Union will convene an emergency summit with Turkey on Monday amid signs that a deal is close. Under this proposed agreement, Turkey would take back all economic migrants presently in Greece – generally defined as all non-Syrians - in return for the EU accepting refugees directly from its camps.

The aim is to stem the flow across the Aegean, where about 1,000 people are landing every day on the Greek island of Lesbos alone. Lesbos has only 85,000 inhabitants, meaning that the inflow into the island amounts to 1.2 per cent of its resident population every 24 hours.

More than 125,000 migrants have arrived in Greece so far this year – 12 times more than during the same period in 2015. Populist anti-immigration politicians have been boosted across Europe. Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, was seeking re-election on Saturday with a pledge to prevent any Muslims from settling in his country, warning that they pose a “security risk”. Opinion polls suggest that Fico is likely to win a third term.

A new build-up of refugees is taking place on Greece’s northern frontier with Macedonia where some 30,000 people are waiting to cross. The backlog has arisen because of Macedonia’s decision to close its border.

But Toskas gave warning that the Greek authorities may find it impossible to hold back the migrants – unless other European countries agree to take their fair share.

“They will find ways to go. Maybe with reduced numbers, but they will go wherever they want. So the only way is to co-operate in a comprehensive way,” he said.

“We don’t want to allow them,” added Toskas. “But the borders are very long and we are trying. We are keeping almost the entire police force and army controlling these borders, but it is very difficult to control sea borders and mountainous terrain.”

Toskas was appointed this week to Greece’s eight-member crisis cabinet for refugees. His government has warned the mayors of Greek cities to expect 100,000 new arrivals by April.

But Greece is fiercely resisting the idea that it can be turned into what Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, has called a “warehouse of souls”, arguing in tough negotiations this week that such an idea would be morally – and practically – impossible.

Toskas said that Greece “cannot be the ‘black hole’ of Europe”, and the EU’s offer of 300 million euros (£230 million) of aid - while welcome - should not be mistaken for a solution to the crisis.

Instead, Greece favours an agreement whereby Turkey would take back all economic migrants, defined as those who are not Syrian. The rest would be shared equitably between EU members.

Toskas argued that this is the only practical solution, not least because only 2 or 3 per cent of arrivals actually want to claim asylum in Greece. The rest are aiming to move on to Germany, Austria and other richer states in northern Europe.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, has been shuttling between Turkey and European capitals in an attempt to broker an agreement along these lines in time for the summit on Monday.

In his letter of invitation to leaders attending the gathering, Tusk voiced optimism about a possible solution. “For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging,” he said.

The key will be securing Turkey’s agreement to take back economic migrants from Greece.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that his government was considering a deal of this kind.

“We have started looking at the possibility of re-admitting asylum seekers, notably from Morocco, Pakistan or Afghanistan,” he said. “We already have readmission agreements with Greece, Bulgaria and other countries and we are preparing to sign others.”