Germany reaches deal on sending back migrants to Greece

Berlin, August 18: Germany has reached an agreement with Greece to send back migrants to the Mediterranean country if they have already applied for asylum there.

 

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement in Berlin that signing of an administrative agreement with Greece is a further step on the way to more orderly conditions in European migration policy.

Last week Germany and Spain sealed a similar deal on returning migrants. Both deals come after a dispute between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Bavarian allies over returning migrants that nearly split them and brought down the government.

“The signature of an administrative agreement with Greece is a further step on the way to more orderly conditions in European migration policy,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.

More than 1.6 million migrants have arrived in Germany since mid-2014, provoking tensions and propelling the far-right Alternative for Germany into the national parliament.

The deals are not likely to affect many refugees. Figures from the Interior Ministry last week showed that since mid-June around 150 people who had already applied for asylum in another EU country had been detected entering Germany from Austria.