International News

ATHENS, (APP/AFP): Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on
Sunday demanded the “urgent” relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country.
He made the call on the eve of a crucial EU-Turkey migration summit in Brussels on Monday.
“The immediate start of a reliable procedure to relocate refugees from our country to other EU states is an absolute emergency,” Tsipras told leaders of his leftist Syriza party.
“This is what we’ll pursue on Monday,” he added.
Greece is at the heart of Europe’s greatest migration crisis since World War II after a series of border restrictions on the migrant trail from Austria to Macedonia caused a bottleneck on its soil.
EU leaders will push Turkey at a summit in Brussels on Monday to agree to “large-scale” deportations of economic migrants from Greece, which is bracing for a fresh surge of migrant and refugee arrivals by the end of March.
The Greek government on Sunday said there were over 33,000 refugees and migrants in the country including over 6,000 on the islands facing Turkey.
It added that over 17,000 extra places would be created in relocation camps over the coming week.
Tsipras said the upheaval was due to “senseless interventions” and
“contribution to imperialist conflict” by Western states — an apparent
reference to the 2003 Iraq war and its repercussions.
And he attacked other EU states and fellow Balkan countries who had failed to apply EU decisions on how to manage the problem.
“We are the only country to has applied decisions and responsibilities jointly undertaken by countries on the Balkan route in October,” he said.