Patrols to block expected 1.5 million refugees flooding across Europe

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Patrols to block expected 1.5 million refugees flooding across Europe

By Michelle Martin
Updated

Berlin: The European Commission and Turkey have agreed on a plan to stem the flow of refugees to Europe by patrolling Turkey's frontier with Greece and setting up new camps, a newspaper cited sources in the commission and the German government as saying on Sunday.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said that, according to the plan, Turkey would be obliged to better protect the border that many migrants have crossed on perilous boat journeys to reach EU territory.

Abdullah al-Salman, from Syria, straightens his tie as he dresses in his best suit moments after arriving by rubber dinghy with about 45 other refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan at the Greek island of Lesvos  after a three-hour journey from Turkey.

Abdullah al-Salman, from Syria, straightens his tie as he dresses in his best suit moments after arriving by rubber dinghy with about 45 other refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan at the Greek island of Lesvos after a three-hour journey from Turkey.Credit: Kate Geraghty

It said the Turkish and Greek coast guards would work together to patrol the eastern Aegean, co-ordinated by Frontex, the European Union's border control agency, and send all refugees back to Turkey.

In Turkey, six new refugee camps for up to 2 million people would be set up, partly financed by the EU.

Two boys warm themselves by a fire while other migrants and refugees walk towards the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija after crossing the border from Greece.

Two boys warm themselves by a fire while other migrants and refugees walk towards the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija after crossing the border from Greece. Credit: AP

The EU states would commit to taking some of the refugees so that up to half a million people could be relocated to Europe without having to use traffickers or take the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.

German authorities expect up to 1.5 million asylum seekers to arrive in Germany this year, the Bild daily newspaper said in a report to be published on Monday, up from a previous estimate of 800,000 to 1 million.

Germany's top-selling newspaper cited an internal forecast from authorities that it said had been classed as confidential.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of people pouring into Europe to escape conflicts and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and beyond, have said they are heading to Germany, Europe's largest economy.

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A refugee holds a baby while waiting for a train towards Serbia at the transit camp for refugees near the Macedonian town of Gevgelija.

A refugee holds a baby while waiting for a train towards Serbia at the transit camp for refugees near the Macedonian town of Gevgelija.Credit: AP

Bild said the German authorities were concerned about the risk of a "breakdown of provisions" and that they were already struggling to procure enough living containers and sanitary facilities for the new arrivals.

"Migratory pressures will increase further. We now expect seven to ten thousand illegal border crossings every day in the fourth quarter," Bild cited the report as saying.

"This high number of asylum seekers runs the risk of becoming an extreme burden for the states and municipalities," the report said.

Meanwhile, Greece's coast guard recovered the body of a baby on Sunday on the shore of the island of Kos, a major entry point into the European Union for thousands of migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea from nearby Turkey.

The infant, believed to be a boy aged between six months and one year old, dressed in green trousers and a white t-shirt, was discovered near a seaside hotel, a coast guard official said.

Thousands of refugees - mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq - attempt the short but perilous trip by boat, often in rough seas due to poor weather.

Almost 400,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday, overwhelming the crisis-stricken government's ability to cope. Most have rapidly headed north towards Germany.

Photographs of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian toddler whose lifeless body was washed up in early September on a beach in the Turkish resort of Bodrum, 4 km from Kos, shocked the world's conscience and focused attention on the plight of refugee families.

Reuters

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