EU considers ‘large-scale’ refugee deportations

A senior European Union official says the 28-nation bloc is looking into a “large-scale” refugee deportation scheme amid efforts to contain the influx of asylum seekers into the continent.

European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday that the EU has increased its pressure on Turkey to consider a major escalation in refugee deportations from Greece.

“We agree that the refugee flows still remain far too high,” Tusk said after meeting with Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu.

“To many in Europe, the most promising method seems to be a fast and large-scale mechanism to ship back irregular migrants arriving in Greece. It would effectively break the business model of the smugglers,” he added.

Tusk made the comments at the end of a tour of six countries hardly hit by the refugee crisis, including Turkey, where 850,000 refugees left last year for Greek islands.

However, the top EU official has not been clear who would actually carry out the expulsions.

ME