Members of the European Union have been warned of a potential repeat of a migrant crisis which not so long ago drove a wedge between several EU countries
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2019) Members of the European Union have been warned of a potential repeat of a migrant crisis which not so long ago drove a wedge between several EU countries.German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has called for a common asylum policy within the EU � something that the bloc has failed to agree so far. Under the so-called Dublin regulations, the country of the migrants' first arrival in the EU is supposed to be responsible for them. But this puts stronger pressure on the bloc members like Italy and Greece that serve as first-arrival countries more often than others.
In a bid to help redistribute migrants across the bloc, the EU attempted to use a quota system mandating how many refugees each country should take in. However, Hungary and Poland have rejected the quotas.
Seehofer told Bild am Sontag newspaper that without an EU-wide quota system, Germany could face a bigger refugee influx than it saw in 2015. The German minister stressed the need for the EU to help its partners patrol the bloc's external borders.
The European Union has, for instance, been working with Libyan coastguard in an attempt to prevent migrants from reaching Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.
In addition, Brussels has agreed a deal with Ankara in 2016 sending back to Turkey Syrian refugees in exchange for a substantial sum of money to help support them. This was meant, in part, to help Greece. However, last week's figures by the International Organization for Migration show that there were more new arrivals by sea in Greece in the first nine months of this year than in the same period in 2018 � 39,155 against 23,560.
French member of the European Parliament Virginie Joron has questioned Turkey's use of the money.
"Where did this money go? What are they doing with it?" Joron wondered in her response to Sputnik.
The lawmaker suggested that "Turkey must control its border and Europe its own."
"In Brussels, some seem to want to bring all the misery of the world to Europe. The French and the Europeans cannot take it anymore," Joron said.
In Germany, the debate on immigration policy is ongoing.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) believes that the renewed influx of migrants in Greece is a bad sign.
"The signal that the Greek government sends out by bringing the migrants from the islands to the mainland is very bad. It shows those willing to come to Europe, that it is worthwhile again to try to reach Europe and mainly Germany," AfD Federal Spokesman Alexander Gauland told Sputnik.
For the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the main issue is that of the "safe countries."
"Just like in Italy, the question of safe countries of origin must be used in Germany: Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Georgia must be declared safe countries of origin so that asylum procedures can be expedited and rejected asylum seekers can be quickly deported," FDP Secretary General Linda Teuteberg told Sputnik.
Meanwhile, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos has told the Funke newspaper that there was "momentum."
"More and more member states recognize that there must be predictable, temporary arrangements for the accommodation of asylum-seekers after their disembarkation," Avramopoulos was quoted as saying.
An EU spokesperson has remarked in a statement to Sputnik that Turkey had "shown a lot of solidarity and generosity over the past years," adding that migrant arrivals in Greece in the past few months were still much lower than before a deal with Ankara.
