The Netherlands took over the rotating EU presidency in January and Koenders says reducing the number of refugees coming is a key goal and his country's presidency will be "extremely pragmatic and operational" to achieve it. The incident raises to four the number of deaths that Greek authorities recorded Friday, as migrants continue to make the short but dangerous sea crossing from nearby Turkey to Greece's Aegean islands despite the winter weather. Italy is blocking a multi-billion euro fund for Syrian refugees in Turkey, insisting the money be paid entirely from European Union coffers rather than by member countries. Swiss authorities are rejecting criticism over their practice of seizing cash from refugees, saying it's based on a decades-old law and only applies in a fraction of cases. A spokeswoman for the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration said Friday the rule requiring asylum seekers to hand over cash worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs ($996) affected just 112 out of 45,000 refugees last year. Lea Wertheimer says the funds — amounting to 210,000 Swiss francs last year — are needed to help cover refugees' upkeep, which can exceed 1,500 francs per person each month. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU's reputation is being damaged worldwide for the failure of member countries to manage the refugee crisis. Greece is the European Union's busiest entry point for migrants and refugees entering the bloc, with a dramatic spike in the number of people fleeing the civil war in Syria last year.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com |
