Athens/Berlin, March 23 (QNA) – Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias called on the European Union on Thursday to boost its support to help Athens handle the refugee crisis ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel.
“Most European countries take too few refugees from us and support for the processing of asylum claims is only a fraction of what was promised,” Kotzias told the German daily Die Welt.Kotzias’ meeting with Gabriel in Athens comes one year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel spearheaded an EU deal with Turkey aimed at providing Ankara with funds to help provide shelter for refugees in the country and to stem the flow of asylum seekers heading to the EU.
Since then the numbers of refugees travelling to Greece has declined, with just 3,000 arriving since the start of the year.He warned that the number of refugees making the often perilous journey across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the EU via Greece could increase again as warmer weather approaches. “A new wave of refugees this summer would overwhelm us,” he added. (QNA)
