European Council on Refugees and Exiles

No migrants have arrived in Greece over the past 24 hours - for first time since EU-Turkey deal on migration entered into force, Kathimerini news daily reported on Thursday.

The latest government figures suggest a marked decrease in refugee flows into Greece over the previous few days as well, the Greek newspaper said in its English-language online edition.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras expressed his discontent to NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg regarding the refugee flows to Greece during a phone contact. According to sources, Tsipras told the head of NATO that the numbers of refugees crossing onto the Greek islands had not been curbed by the presence of NATO ships in the Aegean Sea.

The Greek government is scrambling to find aid in its efforts to deal with the humanitarian refugee crisis.

The Greek side appeared satisfied with the outcomes of the EU summit on refugee held on Monday in Brussels, although no final decision was taken.

EU leaders announced that the final decision on refugee will be taken at next meeting to take place on March 17-18, where many points of Turkey’s proposal will be clarified.

To prevent the refugee inflow to Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested the number of daily entries, which is now above 2,000, be decreased to three-digit figures. In other words, what Merkel wants is that a maximum number of 999 people should be allowed to enter Europe every day so that the Refugee Joint Action Plan can be applicable. 

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has warned against the closing of European national borders and called on European leaders to agree instead on a credible collective response to the current migration crisis.

Austria has decided to cap the number of refugees it wants to accept to 37,500 this year and a total of 127,500 through 2019.

The country accepted 90,000 claims last year - more than 1% of its population.

The challenges, problems and opportunities created by the refugee crisis will be the focus of the 15th meeting of the Transatlantic Council on Migration which will take place on Jan. 17-19 in Berlin with the participation of politicians, heads of organizations and researches from around the world.

At least 20 migrants, including eleven children, drowned when their overloaded boat sank in the Aegean Sea early yesterday while heading for the Greek island of Lesbos.

The wooden boat capsized in high waves two miles off the Bademli coast in the Aegean, Do?an News Agency reported.

Migrants have increasingly deserted the centre for the accommodation of refugees located in the Bulgarian town of Harmanli.

At present, there are less than 200 foreigners, with the buildings lying empty and the staff being too numerous.

The largest refugee camp in Bulgaria was half full for the last time in September, private bTV station informs.