Migrant processing center to be near Athens
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, speaking during a visit to the Greek island of Kos Friday, says a center will be set up at Greece's main port of Piraeus where European teams will fast-track fingerprinting and processing of refugees and migrants.
It was initially believed the so-called "hot-spot" would be set up at points of entry for migrants and refugees on islands where they arrive in small boats from the nearby Turkish coast. The centers will determine who among those arriving is a refugee fleeing persecution or war and therefore entitled to protection and asylum in Europe, and who is an economic migrant who will be sent home.
Avramopoulos said the refugee and migration crisis is "directly linked to the geopolitical instability" of nearby countries and that it "will not end in a night. And no measure can deal with it quickly and effectively. Method, system are needed, political will is needed."
[AP]
