EU meeting on migration
Ways of addressing illegal immigration and boosting EU border security will top the agenda of an informal meeting of European Union justice and interior affairs ministers in northern Greece on Friday, the Public Order Ministry said on Monday. The two-day meeting in the western Macedonian town of Veria will attempt to establish a common EU policy on illegal – and legal – immigration, asylum procedures and the repatriation of illegal migrants, a ministry statement said. Ministers will also discuss fighting organized migrant-smuggling and human-trafficking. Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis will chair the meeting. Yesterday an illegal immigrant from Somalia was killed when he stepped on a mine in an attempt to enter Greece from Turkey through the Evros region in Thrace. The man, whose identity was not made public, entered a fenced, signposted minefield along with a second Somali, who was injured, the army said. Another 18 Somalis were arrested on the fringes of the minefield.
