AMSTERDAM - Europe needs Turkey to dramatically cut the number of migrants reaching Greece within weeks or the pressure for more border closures and fences will grow, the EU's top official in charge of ties with Ankara warned on Saturday.
Frustrated that refugees continue to stream into Greece despite a Nov. 29 deal between Ankara and Brussels to slow down the flows, European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Turkey must show results by the time EU leaders meet for a Feb. 18-19 summit.
"This action plan was agreed more than two months ago and we are still not seeing a significant decline in the number of migrants," Hahn, the EU's enlargement commissioner, told Reuters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Amsterdam attended by Turkey's foreign minister, MevlutCavusoglu.
"Turkey could do more, I have no doubt," Hahn said, adding that Ankara's need to shift forces to curb violence in southeastern Turkey was "no excuse" for not patrolling its western coast and cooperating with Greece.
The European Commission, the EU executive, is set to publish on Wednesday a report on Turkey's progress in implementing the migrant deal. While Turkish police targeting people smugglers have made arrests and Turkey has introduced a limited work-permit scheme for Syrian refugees, the Commission report is likely to be critical.(Reuters)