Migrants at the Greece-Turkey border: EU leaders in the Hellenic country and in Ankara. Checking the situation “on site” and holding political talks

(Brussels) To check on the refugee emergency on site between Turkey and the EU borders, the leaders of the EU institutions are going to Greece and Turkey today. The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the vice-president for ‘promoting the European way of life’, the Greece-born Margaritis Schinas, are going to Greece with the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel (shown on the airplane in SIR/CE photograph). They will be received by the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković (president on duty of the EU Council of Ministers), and the Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, Davor Božinović, will join them when they visit the border and the Fylakio 1 detention centre, where they will be informed by the Chief of the Hellenic Defence Staff. Also today, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, will be going to Ankara, Turkey. They will have talks about the escalation that is taking place in Idlib, in north-western Syria, and the humanitarian consequences on the civilian population, as well as the situation of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. The visit is taking place before the informal meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union and the Extraordinary Council for Foreign Affairs, chaired by the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in Zagreb this week. On his part, EU Commissioner Lenarčič will keep on touring Turkey and visiting the refugee camps of Gaziantep, in south-eastern Turkey.

Valentina Bombelli