ATHENS, 28 Mar: A voluntary scheme by European Union member states to accept unaccompanied migrant children from Greece officially ended Tuesday, raising concern over delays still facing the bloc in hammering out a comprehensive new migration agreement.
\nFifteen minors from Somalia, Gambia and Pakistan boarded a plane in Athens bound for Lisbon, Portugal, bringing the total number of migrant children relocated under the program to 1,368 in 16 countries since 2020, Greek officials said.
\nThe European Commission has promised to finalize new migration rules, common across all member states, in 2024 following years of delays.
\nThe main sticking point is centered around the so-called solidarity mechanism, under which member states would be given relocation quotas to assist countries like Greece, Italy and Spain where most of the asylum seekers arrive.
\nSofia Voultepsi, the Greek deputy migration minister, said Athens was already in discussions with EU member states for a new voluntary scheme if needed.
\n\u201cGreece alone cannot bear the burden of refugees and immigration. It cannot lift on its shoulders all the unaccompanied children who arrive in our country,\u201d she told reporters at Athens International Airport.
\nGianluca Rocco, chief of mission for the United Nations\u2019 International Organization for Migration in Greece, said he remained hopeful that the EU could reach a deal. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATHENS, 28 Mar: A voluntary scheme by European Union member states to accept unaccompanied migrant children from Greece officially ended Tuesday, raising concern over delays still facing the bloc in hammering out a comprehensive new migration agreement. Fifteen minors from Somalia, Gambia and Pakistan boarded a plane in Athens bound for Lisbon, Portugal, bringing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}