Just 4 EU states willing to accept “unaccompanied minors” from Greece
March 5, 2020
Only four EU member-states are willing to accept unaccompanied refugee minors from Greece. Germany said it will only do so under the precondition that also other member-states will join the action.
Four members states said that they will relocate unaccompanied children from Greece to their countries, Alternate Migration and Asylum Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos said after the extraordinary meeting of the Council of the EU’s Interior Ministers on Wednesday.
He pointed out that “for a long time there has been no willingness by Member States to take unaccompanied children to their territory” and the action of the four countries is “a sign of solidarity, which initiates a momentum.”
According to information, the countries willing to take unaccompanied minors from Greece are Germany, Luxembourg, France and Finland.
Luxembourg is willing to accept 10 minors, Finland a total of 175 and thus not only from Greece but also from Cyprus, Italy and Malta.
France did not specify the number of minors it is willing to accept and so did Germany.
Furthermore, Germany will only accept refugee children if a ‘large’ number of EU states agree too and the situation on Greek-Turkish border ‘normalizes.’ In addition, Berlin demands explanations from Athens regarding the suspension of the asylum procedures for new arrivals.
The relocation of unaccompanied minors is also linked to their status, whether in the context of “family reunion” or not.
In Germany, the coalition government of CDU/CSU and SPD rejected a proposal by the Greens to accept 5,000 refugees from Greece, German media report on Thursday.
Published at https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/03/05/eu-greece-unaccompanied-minors/
