In the cold weather, flooded by the pouring rain rain, some gather in tents, some outdoors, some even in the mud, but over 13,000 refugees in Idomeni await the decision from Brussels whether they’ll be allowed to continue their journey to Germany or not.
This morning the situation got even worse. Mud, fog, flooded tents and soaking wet clothes drying in tree branches, is what the bad weather left behind.
Thousands of refugees despite the bad weather conditions remain there, and non governmental organizations fear that the bad weather may cause new health problems and worsen the already horrendous hygienic conditions in the camp.
Before the rain started , hundreds of refugees staged a peaceful protest on the railway tracks in protest at the decision that they are not be allowed through because they come from cities in Syria which are not considered dangerous because they are part of the ‘post-war zone’.
The final decision on the refugee crisis, and the thousands of refugees stranded across Greece will have to wait until March 17 and 18 when European leaders will specify final details. Marathon negotiations in Brussels on the refugee crisis ended with a basic agreement between the EU and Turkey to reduce the number of refugees allowed in to Greece.
After 15 hours of talks, the main points agreed between Brussels and Ankara, are that Turkey take back all illegal migrants from Greece and the Greek islands, who will be transported at the expense of the EU. To accelerate the process of liberalization of the visa regime for Turkey, to accelerate the process of distributing the financial aid worth 3 billion euros for Turkey and to open new chapters in the accession negotiations.
The Greek side believes that the EU has successfully focused on a deal with Turkey rather than the decisions of the Visegrad Group which is to close the Balkan route. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pointed out that Greece was not isolated at the Summit, but some states wanted to isolate them from the EU.
