ATHENS, Greece (AP) – European Union countries wouldn’t be ready to deal with another surge in migration if a deal with Turkey to limit migrant and refugee arrivals collapses, a minister for migration in Greece said Thursday.
Yiannis Mouzalas said Greece and other European countries would be “severely tested” if the March agreement failed – in the wake of an attempted coup in Turkey and a government crackdown on its alleged sympathizers that has strained relations with the EU.
Mouzalas told private Skai television that “no country in Europe is ready” for a repeat of the mass arrival of migrants and refugees that occurred last year.
He made the remarks a day after a government official told The Associated Press that the EU-Turkey deal was holding so far, with daily arrival numbers remaining low.
About 1 million people seeking a better life in Europe’s prosperous heartland arrived on Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands from the beginning of 2015 to March this year.