Netherlands: Breakthrough expected to stem refugee crisis

Prime Minister Mark Rutte thinks that there will soon be a break through in stemming the inflow of refugees into Europe. He believes that "important steps" will be taken in the coming weeks and that Greece will soon agree to better monitor the border with Turkey and register asylum seekers more effectively. This should reduce the number of refugees entering Europe. "It involves very intensive discussions to ensure that things really do go quicker. I can not say much about it because of its confidentiality, but I have the impression that there is now so much push behind it that important steps will be taken in the coming weeks", Rutte said on Wednesday, the Volkskrant reports. According to the Prime Minister, everyone involved can see that Europe can not keep handling 10 thousand new arrivals a day. "Most people are no longer fleeing from the war in Syria, but to escape from the very unpleasant situation in the refugee camps in the region", he said, adding that the EU earmarked 3 billion euros to improve this situation, referring to the money going to Turkey to take in Syrian refugees. EU and Turkish leaders are meeting on Sunday to seal the deal. Turkey gets the money and agrees to improve refugee camps and increase surveillance and border monitoring. And in return the EU promises that Turks will soon be able to travel to Europe without a visa and to restart negotiations on Turkey's EU membership.