Greek PM Tsipras Open to Deal with Merkel to Take Back Migrants

Local Editor

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was ready to strike a deal with Germany that would speed up migrant deportations to the first port of entry, in an interview out Wednesday.

"We don't care about the fact that maybe we'll have some returns from Germany if this will help, in order to give the signal to the smugglers," he told the Financial Times newspaper.

Tsipras said he believed the existing Dublin regulation, which requires asylum seekers to apply in the first EU country they enter, to be "out of life."

Over a million migrants travelled on to Germany after arriving in Europe at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel initially opened the borders but promised to tighten controls after widespread domestic condemnation.

The chancellor, who is under pressure from Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of the ruling Conservatives' Bavarian sister party CSU, will meet with other EU leaders on Thursday to try to clinch a deal on sharing out migrants among the union's member states.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team