International News

BRUSSELS, (APP/AFP): European Union leaders will on Monday
back closing down the Balkans route used by most migrants to reach Europe, diplomats said, as at least 25 more people drowned trying to cross the Aegean Sea en route to Greece.
Diplomats said the declaration drafted by EU ambassadors Sunday will be announced at a European Union summit in Brussels on Monday set to be attended by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The bloc’s 28 leaders will also ask Davutoglu’s government to accept
“large-scale” deportations of economic migrants from Greece and do more to
implement a November deal to slow the flow of migrants into Europe, the main
entry point of which is Greece.
Greece has seen non-EU Macedonia and EU countries on the western Balkans route virtually shut their borders in a domino effect, trapping Syrian and other asylum seekers desperate to head north to wealthy Germany and Scandinavia.
An EU diplomat told journalists that European leaders would declare Monday that they will “close the Balkans route in the coming days,” ending the “wave-through approach” to migrants that has caused chaos and tension in Europe.
Another diplomat confirmed that the language contained in an earlier draft declaration remained: “Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end”.
The diplomat cautioned that delegations were still looking at the draft, as is always the case before summit.