Talks begin about migrant returns from Germany

A delegation from the German Interior Ministry will start discussions with officials in Athens on Tuesday about Berlin's proposals to return 3,300 migrants and refugees that were registered in the Eurodac fingerprint database in Greece but still managed to make their way to Germany.

They will also discuss how some 3,500 families living in Greece with relatives in Germany will be reunited.

Meanwhile Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas has sent a letter to the mayors of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros in an attempt to reassure them that asylum seekers will not be returned from Germany to hotspots on the islands.

Vitsas dismissed speculation that the government made a deal with Berlin for a suspension of planned value-added tax hikes on these islands in exchange for migrant returns.

"Scenarios that refer to the creation of new hotspots on...