Around 6 000 of them crossed the land border into Greece. That’s nine times as many as during the same period last year. Ships brought 9 349 immigrants to the Greek islands. This means that about twice as many people have arrived by sea as at the beginning of 2017.
Turkey has been using the Refugee Pact negotiated with the EU as a means of pressure despite having received a billions of euros in compensation.
At the launch of the report on Wednesday, the European Commission pointed out that fewer illegal migrants came to Europe than before the conclusion of the EU-Turkey refugee pact.
The Turkish government has repeatedly threatened to open its borders if the EU appears unable to accommodate certain demands. At the top of the wish list of the Turkish government are concessions on visa freedom, German media reported.
The report also indicates that the influx through the Western Mediterranean route has increased compared to the same period of the previous year. Some 6 623 people who wanted to join the EU reached Spain. That is an increase of about 22 percent.
AfD parliamentary leader, Alice Weidel, has warned against visa liberalization for Turks. “Granting Turkey full visa-free travel for the EU is a high-risk insanity,” Weidel told Junge Freiheit. “In this way, a gigantic number of people could simply enter Europe and, in particular, Germany.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has been promoting visa freedom for Turks to EU member states, as the EU Commission believes that the new proposals of the Turkish government to fulfill the criteria for a visa liberalization constitute “substantial” progress.
Weidel has warned that conflict is already present on the streets in Germany today. “A complete visa-free regime will exacerbate this conflict to an unprecedented extent on our streets.”
Turkey plans that the European Parliament will give the go-ahead for Turkish visas at the end of February 2019.