AFP, Brussels :
EU president Donald Tusk struck an unusually upbeat note on the migrant crisis Friday as Turkey raised the possibility of taking back non-Syrian asylum seekers.
Wrapping up a whirlwind diplomatic tour by meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Tusk predicted an agreement to shut down the Western Balkans route that most refugees and migrants have taken into the European Union.
His prediction ahead of a crucial summit in Brussels on Monday came as new
official figures showed that a record 1.2 million asylum seekers arrived in the EU in 2015 — more than double the figure from the year before.
“For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging,” Tusk said in an invitation letter to leaders ahead the summit, which will include Turkey.
He warned success depended largely on securing Turkey’s agreement at the summit for the “large-scale” deportation from Greece of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees and the curbing of the flow of new arrivals.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his government was mulling the possibility of taking back asylum seekers from countries other than Syria.
“We have started looking at the possibility of re-admitting asylum seekers, notably from Morocco, Pakistan or Afghanistan,” he said in a joint press conference in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias.
“We already have readmission agreements with Greece, Bulgaria and other countries and we are preparing to sign others.” Cavusolglu said Greece had submitted 860 requests for Turkey to take people back, “99 percent” of which had been accepted.
On Wednesday, 300 migrants from North Africa were sent back from Greece to Turkey, the first time that a 2002 agreement between Ankara and Athens had been used, a Greek official told AFP.
The official also said Athens and Ankara were in talks to create a fast-track procedure to send migrants back to Turkey.
Brussels meanwhile unveiled a plan for saving the passport-free Schengen zone, which has been jeopardised by several countries closing their borders in response to the huge influx of humanity from Syria and elsewhere.
EU president Donald Tusk struck an unusually upbeat note on the migrant crisis Friday as Turkey raised the possibility of taking back non-Syrian asylum seekers.
Wrapping up a whirlwind diplomatic tour by meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Tusk predicted an agreement to shut down the Western Balkans route that most refugees and migrants have taken into the European Union.
His prediction ahead of a crucial summit in Brussels on Monday came as new
official figures showed that a record 1.2 million asylum seekers arrived in the EU in 2015 — more than double the figure from the year before.
“For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging,” Tusk said in an invitation letter to leaders ahead the summit, which will include Turkey.
He warned success depended largely on securing Turkey’s agreement at the summit for the “large-scale” deportation from Greece of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees and the curbing of the flow of new arrivals.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his government was mulling the possibility of taking back asylum seekers from countries other than Syria.
“We have started looking at the possibility of re-admitting asylum seekers, notably from Morocco, Pakistan or Afghanistan,” he said in a joint press conference in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias.
“We already have readmission agreements with Greece, Bulgaria and other countries and we are preparing to sign others.” Cavusolglu said Greece had submitted 860 requests for Turkey to take people back, “99 percent” of which had been accepted.
On Wednesday, 300 migrants from North Africa were sent back from Greece to Turkey, the first time that a 2002 agreement between Ankara and Athens had been used, a Greek official told AFP.
The official also said Athens and Ankara were in talks to create a fast-track procedure to send migrants back to Turkey.
Brussels meanwhile unveiled a plan for saving the passport-free Schengen zone, which has been jeopardised by several countries closing their borders in response to the huge influx of humanity from Syria and elsewhere.
