Repatriation

An ancient sarcophagus smuggled out of Turkey in the 1960s could soon be on its way home following a decision from Swiss prosecutors.        

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Ankara, Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı said the final legal objections to the ancient artefact's repatriation had been overcome.        

The budget of the European Union for 2017 entered into force after the European Parliament approved it with a majority of 438 votes.

This budget carries two messages, stated during the debates the Chairman of the Budget Parliamentary Commission from the French right-wing Jean Arthuis.

Speaking at a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) regional conference in Neumünster on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that around 100,000 migrants whose applications for asylum were rejected will be leaving Germany for their home countries.

The governments of the European Union approved at a final reading the budget of the EU for 2017.

The document has to be approved by a vote of European Parliament deputies in Brussels on Thursday.

The procedure for the voluntary repatriation of 50 Afghanis who have arrived in Bulgaria illegally has been launched.

Another 200 will also be repatriated after their documents have been processed.

This was decided at a meeting with outgoing PM Boyko Borisov.

AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

BELGRADE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel expects that this year around 100,000 migrants will leave Germany, over half of them voluntarily.

Vice president of conservative opposition party New Democracy and newly appointed shadow minister of national defense Adonis Georgiadis believes a collapse of the Euro-Turkish migration deal highly likely given that the EU is reluctant to grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens.

Thousands of migrants have left Greece and returned to their home countries within the framework of an assisted voluntary return and reintegration program operated by the International Organization for Migration, the agency said Monday.

According to the IOM, 2,026 migrants were repatriated in October, bringing the total number of returns so far this year to 15,954.

Some USD 15 B in financial assistance were raised for Afghanistan at an international conference in Brussels, with the EU also reaching an agreement on migration and on a renewed peace effort.

The money will have strings attached, with Afghanistan committing itself to a number of reforms, Reuters has said.

President of Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos opened on Saturday the International conference “The Parthenon Marbles: 200 years since their expropriation by the British Museum”which is held at the Acropolis Museum.