EU Unsatisfied with Turkey’s Cooperation on Stemming Migrant Influx

(L-R) European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a press conference in the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 07 January 2016/ Photo EPA/B

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans would visit Turkey on Monday to discuss Ankara’s efforts to hold back migrants sailing to Greece’s Aegean islands, Reuters reported on Thursday.

In November 2015, the EU pledged cash and other concessions to Turkey in return for Turkish help in curbing irregular immigration into Europe.

The latest figures, however, show that the arrivals in Greece have remained “relatively high over the last couple of weeks,” Timmermans told a news conference in Amsterdam, according to Reuters.

"We have seen the first results which are encouraging but we are a long way from being satisfied," Timmermans said.

About 3,000 people arrived in Greece from Turkey across the Aegean Sea last week, according to UN data. This compared to 2,849 in the last week of November, when the EU struck its deal with Turkey, and daily averages between 3,000 and 3,600 in the weeks between.

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