Germany has decided to start returning newly arrived asylum seekers to Greece starting in mid-March, according to an interior ministry spokesperson, effectively reversing a five-year suspension of such transfers owing to the poor conditions there.

Under the European Union's so-called Dublin rules, would-be refugees must file for asylum in the first member-state of the bloc they enter - often Greece, Italy or Bulgaria.

If asylum seekers have travelled on to other EU nations, they are to be returned to their first port of call.

But that requirement was halted for Greece in 2011, which together with Italy has been the main point of entry for the more than one million migrants who have entered the bloc since 2015, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

A German interior ministry spokesman told AFP news agency that Germany would reinstate the Dublin rule in two months' time and return newly-arrived asylum seekers to their first EU port of call.

"In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15," said the spokesman, Tobias Plate.

'Historic migration flows'

Germany's decision comes after the EU recommended on December 8 that member states resume sending asylum seekers back to Greece from March next year.

Athens has criticised the EU's assessment, with Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas saying the current legal framework was "unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in".

About 62,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after a series of border closures further north early last year and the subsequent controversial deal between the EU and Turkey to stem flows.

In recent days, refugees in camps across mainland Greece and Greek islands have struggled as temperatures have sunk as low as minus 18 degrees.

The severe weather had been forecast well in advance, and the Greek government has come under fire for not acting fast enough to ensure that all refugees are adequately housed.

In Moria, a camp on Greek the island of Lesbos, more than 4,500 people who live in tents are among those hit the hardest by the snowy weather.

READ MORE: Stranded and sick, refugees endure harsh Serbian winter

"While thousands of asylum seekers are exposed to bitterly cold conditions and some may freeze to death, politicians are cynically whitewashing the situation in Greece," said Pro Asyl, the German refugee relief group, raising concerns about Berlin's decision to start returning asylum seekers.

"Instead of enforcing Dublin-deportations, it is of crucial importance to comprehensively investigate the abject failure of the system of housing asylum seekers in Greece and to house refugees in humane conditions without delay. Human rights organisations have been working for months to get refugees out of tents and miserable camps."

Pro Asyl also warned that the measure would put the asylum system in Greece, a country still dealing with a crippling financial crisis, under further pressure.

Germany's 2015 decision to open its doors to Syrian refugees, and to effectively suspend Dublin rules for them, brought 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone.

But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel has proved controversial, and the government has since sought to bring numbers down.

Last year, the figure dropped sharply to 280,000 arrivals, largely owing to the closure of the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass influx.

The plan to return asylum seekers to Greece could further slash new arrival figures, ahead of general elections expected in September, when immigration is set to figure as a key issue.

Trapped in cold

More than 361,000 refugees and migrants reached Europe by boat last year, according to the UN refugee agency. In 2015, more than a million made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

READ MORE: The refugee crisis and the Greeks - One year on

Closed borders across Europe have left refugees and migrants trapped in difficult humanitarian conditions in the Balkans, Greece and elsewhere.

Rights groups have expressed concern about the fate of refugees and migrants as a wave of cold weather grips the region.</s>BERLIN: Germany will begin returning asylum seekers to Greece from mid-March, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday, essentially lifting a five-year suspension on such transfers because of poor conditions there.

Under the EU´s so-called Dublin rules, would-be refugees must file for asylum in the first member-state of the bloc they enter, often the Mediterranean nations of Greece and Italy.

If asylum seekers have travelled on to other EU nations, they are to be returned to their first port of call.

But that requirement had been halted for Greece, which together with Italy has been the main point of entry for the more than one million migrants who have entered the bloc since 2015 fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

A German interior ministry spokesman told AFP that Germany would reinstate the Dublin rule in two months´ time and return newly arrived asylum seekers to their first EU port of call.

"In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15," said the spokesman, Tobias Plate.

The EU recommended on December 8 that member states resume sending asylum seekers back to Greece from March next year, after such transfers were halted since 2011.

Athens has criticised the EU´s assessment, with Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas saying the current legal framework was "unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in".

German refugee relief group Pro Asyl has also raised concerns, warning that the measure would put the asylum system in Greece, a country still recovering from a deep debt and economic crisis, under further pressure.

Germany´s 2015 decision to open its doors to Syrian refugees, and to effectively suspend Dublin rules for them, brought 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone.

But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel has proved controversial, and the government has since sought to bring numbers down.

Last year, the figure dropped sharply to 280,000 arrivals, largely due to the closure of the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass influx.

The plan to return asylum seekers to Greece could further slash new arrival figures, ahead of general elections expected in September, when immigration is set to figure as a key issue.

Germany to return new asylum seekers to Greece was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 13, 2017 and was last updated on January 13, 2017. This news story is related to Print/178811-Germany-to-return-new-asylum-seekers-to-Greece/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Germany to return new asylum seekers to Greece" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/178811-Germany-to-return-new-asylum-seekers-to-Greece.</s>Germany will begin returning asylum seekers to Greece from mid-March, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP Thursday, essentially lifting a five-year suspension on such transfers because of poor conditions there.

Under the EU's so-called Dublin rules, would-be refugees must file for asylum in the first member-state of the bloc they enter, often the Mediterranean nations of Greece and Italy.

If asylum seekers have travelled on to other EU nations, they are to be returned to their first port of call.

But that requirement had been halted for Greece, which together with Italy has been the main point of entry for the more than one million migrants who have entered the bloc since 2015 fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

A German interior ministry spokesman told AFP that Germany would reinstate the Dublin rule in two months' time and return newly arrived asylum seekers to their first EU port of call.

"In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15," said the spokesman, Tobias Plate.

The EU recommended on December 8 that member states resume sending asylum seekers back to Greece from March next year, after such transfers were halted since 2011.

Athens has criticized the EU's assessment, with Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas saying the current legal framework was "unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in".

German refugee relief group Pro Asyl has also raised concerns, warning that the measure would put the asylum system in Greece, a country still recovering from a deep debt and economic crisis, under further pressure.

Germany's 2015 decision to open its doors to Syrian refugees, and to effectively suspend Dublin rules for them, brought 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone.

But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel has proved controversial, and the government has since sought to bring numbers down.

Last year, the figure dropped sharply to 280,000 arrivals, largely due to the closure of the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass influx.

The plan to return asylum seekers to Greece could further slash new arrival figures, ahead of general elections expected in September, when immigration is set to figure as a key issue.</s>The European Union's Dublin regulations, ruling that refugees must apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter, were suspended in Germany in 2011 due to the poor conditions and infrastructure to process asylum seekers in Greece.

However, these processing systems are still described as "dire" by humanitarian organizations in Greece, where temperatures in the refugee camps have dropped to as low as —18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit), leaving people stuck in below freezing conditions following the closure of alternative routes into Europe from elsewhere.

Yet the rules are being reinstated in Germany in March 2017, which will see the return of all asylum seekers to the country they first stepped foot in.

Slovenia is also planning to toughen up its refugee and asylum seeker procedures by amending its Aliens Act, allowing police officers the power to stop and turn back any asylum seekers on the border, imitating Hungary and Croatia in their approach to refugees.

However, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, has written to the Slovenian prime minister, Miro Cerar urging caution over the proposed Aliens Act.

Mr. Jagland suggested it could contravene the European Convention on Human Rights, especially considering the "right to due process, the consideration of individual circumstances in the processing of applications and protection of all migrants and asylum seekers against ill-treatment."

Human rights organization Amnesty International have also raised concerns, claiming it strips refugees of their rights according to EU laws.</s>Germany has decided to start returning newly arrived asylum seekers to Greece, effectively reversing a five-year suspension of the European Union’s Dublin rules that require refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU member state they enter.

The Dublin rules were suspended in 2011 owing to the poor conditions in Greece.

In an interview with the Agence France-Presse (AFP), German interior ministry spokesman, Tobias Plate, said Germany would reinstate the Dublin rules in March and return newly-arrived asylum seekers to their first EU port of call.

“In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15,” said Plate.

As reported by Al Jazeera, Greece has criticised the EU’s assessment. Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas argues the current legal framework was “unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in”.

Some 62,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after a series of border closures further north early last year and the subsequent controversial deal between the EU and Turkey to stem flows.

In recent days, refugees in camps across mainland Greece and Greek islands have struggled as temperatures have sunk as low as minus 18 degrees.

“While thousands of asylum seekers are exposed to bitterly cold conditions and some may freeze to death, politicians are cynically whitewashing the situation in Greece,” said Pro Asyl, the German refugee relief group, raising concerns about Berlin’s decision to start returning asylum seekers.

“Instead of enforcing Dublin-deportations, it is of crucial importance to comprehensively investigate the abject failure of the system of housing asylum seekers in Greece and to house refugees in humane conditions without delay. Human rights organisations have been working for months to get refugees out of tents and miserable camps.”</s>Berlin is likely to reinstate a rule obliging refugees to stay in the first European country they enter and start returning them to Greece if it was their first location in the European Union, a German Interior Ministry spokesman said in an interview with AFP.

“In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15th,” said the spokesman, Tobias Plate.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has already asked the country’s Migration Office to halt sending refugees back to Greece only until March 15, German media reports, citing an internal paper from the minister.

According to the EU ruling known as the Dublin III Regulations, asylum-seekers must make an asylum application in the EU country that they entered first. Refugees traveling further into Europe had to be returned to the EU country they reached first. Over the past years and especially during 2015 refugee crisis these first countries most often were Greece and Italy.

The rule, however, had been suspended for Athens with too many refugees fleeing war-torn Middle East and Africa through this country that was struggling with economic instability at that moment.

On December 8, 2016, the EU recommended that member states return to the practice of sending asylum seekers back to Greece, starting with March. The idea of removing the suspension is explained by improving conditions there compared to the past, Plate said.

The plan was met with criticism from Athens voiced by Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas saying that the current legal framework was “unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in.”

Meanwhile, German refugees rights group has warned that the decision could put additional strain on Greece that is far from being fully recovered from a deep debt and economic crisis.

Refugees in Greece are currently trying to brave the unexpected and rare weather conditions – heavy snowfalls, freeze and sub-zero temperatures.

In 2015, Berlin opened its doors to Syrian refugees, bypassing the Dublin rules. The move brought some 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone, AFP reports.

Next year the figures went down to 280,000 arrivals due to the closed Balkan route and an EU-Turkey deal designed to limit the influx of refugees.

The new initiative is expected to keep on lowering the number of refugees arriving in Germany ahead of general election that are to take place in September with immigration being one of the focal points.</s>Germany is to start returning asylum-seekers to Greece from mid-March, effectively ending a five-year suspension of transfers, according to reports.

Under the so-called Dublin regulations migrants must seek asylum in the European Union member-state they first arrived in.

Tobias Plate, a Germany interior ministry spokesman, told AFP Thursday that Berlin had decided to reinstate the Dublin system in two month’s time.

“In line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes that such transfers will be possible from March 15,” Plate said.

Transfers have been suspended because of poor conditions here.

Also on Thursday, Greek authorities said another 27 Syrian refugees who had their initial bids for asylum rejected have been returned to Turkey.

A statement by the Ministry of Public Order said that the 17 men, four women and six children were flown Thursday from Lesvos island in the eastern Aegean to Adana.</s>About 280,000 new asylum-seekers arrived in Germany last year – far below the influx of 890,000 in 2015, the interior ministry has said.

Arrivals declined sharply with the closure of the Balkan migrant route in March and the subsequent agreement between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea to Turkey.

Asylum applications have lagged well behind arrivals and many people who came to Germany in 2015 applied only last year.

The figures released yesterday showed that 745,545 formal asylum applications were made last year – 268,869 more than in 2015.

Those included 268,866 applications from Syrians, 127,892 from Afghans and 97,162 from Iraqis – the biggest single groups by far.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which has been strengthened in the course of Europe’s migrant crisis, decided last year on more than 695,000 asylum applications, more than twice as many as in 2015.

Nearly 60 per cent of applicants were granted either full refugee status or a lesser form of protection. Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said that about 55,000 migrants returned home voluntarily last year, compared with the previous year’s 35,000. Another 25,000 were forcibly deported.

He said: “This shows that the measures that the federal government and the EU have taken are taking hold. We’ve been successful in managing and controlling the process of migration.”

The number of returns is still too low, Mr de Maiziere said, adding that talks are under way with state authorities – who are responsible for returns – to push it up.

He was referring to the EU’s deal with Turkey to halt the influx of migrants and refugees into Greece, as well as the decision by Balkan countries to close off the route towards Western Europe.

Her decision to suspend EU rules on registering asylum seekers in the first EU state they entered was aimed at the growing number of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country, but large numbers of people of other nationalities made the journey too. Migration has become a politicised issue in Germany ahead of federal elections in the autumn. As voters punished her CDU party in regional polls last year, Mrs Merkel acknowledged that the migrant crisis could have been handled better.

Germany has rejected asylum requests from Albania, describing it as a “safe country”, and has been deporting Afghan arrivals. The government said last year that increasing numbers of asylum seekers were returning to Iraq as well as Afghanistan. Of the record 695,733 asylum decisions made by the interior ministry last year, 256,136 were awarded refugee status under the Geneva Conventions and a further 153,700 given subsidiary protection, which means their status in Germany is initially temporary. Right-wing groups blamed the policy for terror attacks carried out by migrants, including the massacre at a Christmas market in Berlin.

Mrs Merkel has promised a “national effort” to ensure people who are not entitled to stay go home after revelations attempts to deport Isis supporter Anis Amri had failed months before he committed the Berlin attack.

Migration and security have dominated the debate ahead of Germany’s federal elections, where Merkel will be running for a fourth term. Despite the fall in numbers, 2016 was the deadliest ever year for refugees, after the EU-Turkey deal made the main route revert to the far wider and more treacherous central Mediterranean.</s>Germany has seen a dramatic drop in new asylum-seekers with 600,000 fewer arriving in the country last year, figures released by the interior ministry on Wednesday show.

About 280,000 new asylum-seekers arrived in the country last year, less than a third of the previous year's huge influx of 890,000.

Arrivals declined sharply with the closure of the Balkan migrant route in March and the subsequent agreement between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea to Greece.

While new arrivals declined, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the number of rejected asylum-seekers who left Germany was up — though still not to authorities' satisfaction.

In total, 80,000 people either left voluntarily or were deported, he said.

Asylum applications have lagged well behind arrivals and many people who came to Germany in 2015 applied only last year.

Wednesday's figures showed that 745,545 formal asylum applications were made last year — 268,869 more than in 2015.

Those included 268,866 applications from Syrians, 127,892 from Afghans and 97,162 from Iraqis, the biggest single groups by far.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which has been beefed up in the course of Europe's migrant crisis, decided last year on more than 695,000 asylum applications, more than twice as many as in 2015.

Nearly 60 percent of applicants were granted either full refugee status or a lesser form of protection.

The agency has also cut the average time required for an asylum decision to under three months, and introduced a nationwide database to combine identity records for all asylum-seekers.

De Maiziere said that about 55,000 migrants returned home voluntarily last year, compared with the previous year's 35,000. Another 25,000 were forcibly deported.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces a national election later this year and still draws criticism for her welcoming approach to migrants in 2015, has promised a 'national effort' to ensure that people who aren't entitled to stay go home.

The number of returns is still too low, de Maiziere said, adding that talks are underway with state authorities — who are responsible for returns — to push it up.

De Maiziere rejected the suggestion that the drop in new arrivals was the result of Europe's efforts to prevent people reaching the continent, but acknowledged that Germany was working to ensure refugees stay in their home region.

Meanwhile, rising numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Central Asia are ending up homeless in sub-zero temperatures in Serbia with more arriving from Bulgaria as countries further along the so-called Balkan corridor to western Europe tighten their borders.

Serbian authorities and international agencies are unable to house all the newcomers, with about a fifth of the almost 7,000 sleeping rough in Belgrade city centre or at the border with Hungary, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR).

'We are concerned that the migrant crisis has not abated and there are things we cannot influence,' Serbia's minister for labour, employment, veterans and social policy, Aleksandar Vulin, said in December.

Although the Balkan route used by hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict to reach western Europe has been made far more difficult in the past year, with countries tightening border controls or erecting fences, loopholes remain, including a fairly porous boundary between Serbia and Bulgaria.

As well as the Balkan route closure, in March 2016 an EU-Turkey deal to tackle the migrant crisis formally came into effect.

The 28-nation EU and Turkey deal sees Turkey make sure to stem the flow of migrants into Europe in return for billions of euros to take care of them there.

Under the deal, migrants arriving in Greece are now expected to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or their claim is rejected.

However, Turkey and the EU have been at loggerheads about Turkey's security crackdown since a failed coup in July.</s>According to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany will commence returning refugees to Greece from March 15. The newspaper cites a letter forwarded by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere to the German parliament requesting from the immigration ministry to start the procedure in accordance with a December European Commission recommendation for the reactivation of the relevant Dublin Accord regulation.

The regulation had been suspended in 2011 following a ruling by the European Court of Justice on the grounds of poor living conditions in Greece for the refugees. However, the Commission’s recommendation does not apply to refugees that entered the EU before mid March and groups labeled “sensitive”, like unattended minors. Moreover, the EC has linked the reactivation of the regulation with the implementation of the 2015 agreement for the allocation of of refugees in EU member-states. Brussels had tabled a plan for the allocation of 1,000-2,000 daily to other EU member-states, a plan that has by and large failed, as EU countries have only received a total of 7,340 refugees from Greece and Italy. Meanwhile, German NGO Pro Asyl has condemned the plans by the German government to activate the regulation claiming such a move would be hurt the Greek asylum seeking mechanism.
Germany announces plans to start deporting newly-arrived migrants to Greece starting in March. According to EU's Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers must file for asylum in the member state they arrived in.