German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, confirmed on Monday that Germany would accept 10,000 refugees from North Africa and Middle East as part of the EU-Turkey relocation programme.
Mrs Merkel also stressed the need to continue assisting the crisis-hit countries.
On April 19, EU Commissioner for Refugees, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said that Germany would accept over 10,000 migrants and refugees from North Africa and Middle East.
“Under the current resettlement programme, Germany will accept 10,000 refugees,” Mrs Merkel said at a joint briefing with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi.
The chancellor pointed out that Germany took the responsibility to accept this number of refugees under the EU-Turkish refugee deal.
Mrs Merkel also noted that one of the key German objectives was to tackle illegal migration.
In order to achieve this goal, Berlin will further provide assistance to the crisis-hit regions such as Libya, Syria and the Lake Chad region.
In 2015, the EU introduced a relocation quota system in response to the refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of migrants began fleeing to Europe from conflicts in their native North Africa and Middle East.
In March 2016, the EU and Ankara agreed on a deal, under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants, who arrive in the EU through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis.
The EU vowed to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid, introduce a visa-free regime, as well as provide financial aid to Turkey to cover the costs of migrant reception.
EmoticonEmoticon