European migrant crisis

Four migrants were killed and five others were rescued off the coast near the resort town of Ayvalık, after small boat heading to Greece capsized in the Aegean Sea on Nov. 8.

The European Union should not turn into a fortress to deal with immigration but should do more to stop migrant smugglers in their tracks, the new EU commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told Kathimerini in his first interview since taking up the job at the beginning of the month.

Less than a week after a migrant boat disaster off of Istanbul’s coast, the Turkish Coast Guard seized a boat off the shores of the Aegean port of Bodrum carrying 11 Afghan refugees to the Greek island of Kos late on Nov. 5.

In the first operation, 11 persons who "were involved for long period of time in the trafficking of migrants to the European Union countries" were arrested, the police said.

The European Union’s decision-making processes lend new depth to the word “incoherent”, and the current British government’s default mode is nastiness, but they have both outdone themselves this time.

The German Federal Government has suggested that it considers a British exit from the EU as a possibility.

Fears of a rise in migrant deaths at sea have increased as a Mediterranean coastal mission by the EU formally replaces  a much wider search and rescue operation by Italy on Saturday.

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Closer cooperation between Greek and Turkish coast guard authorities has led to 11,000 undocumented migrants being prevented from entering Greek borders and returned to the neighboring country since the start of the year, data presented by the Merchant Marine Ministry Friday showed.

Search and rescue operations to prevent migrants drowning in the Mediterranean will be undertaken by the EU as of weekend, but UK says it cuts support, while future of Italian mission looks uncertain The EU will launch a patrol mission in the Mediterranean on the first day of November amid warnings the number of boat migrant deaths could rise with Italy mulling pulling the plug on its own resc

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is opposed to plans by British Prime Minister David Cameron to increase control over the number of EU migrants entering the UK.

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