A senior EU official involved in negotiations with Turkey on a plan to manage the refugee crisis told Reuters Sunday that a newspaper article citing agreement on a plan "was exaggerated." The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung daily said in a report Sunday that the European Commission and Turkey have agreed a plan to stem the flow of refugees to Europe by patrolling Turkey's frontier with Greece and setting up new camps, citing sources in the Commission and the German government as saying. According to the plan cited by the report, Turkey would be obliged to better protect the border that many migrants have crossed on perilous boat journeys to reach EU territory. It said the Turkish and Greek coast guards would work together to patrol the eastern Aegean, coordinated by Frontex, the European Union's border control agency, and send all refugees back to Turkey. In Turkey, six new refugee camps for up to 2 million people would be set up, partly financed by the EU, the newspaper said. The EU states would commit to taking some of the refugees so that up to half a million people could be relocated to Europe without having to use traffickers or take the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, the newspaper said. But the senior EU official said the report went beyond what was currently being discussed by Brussels and Ankara. "It's a bit exaggerated." The official said EU officials had prepared proposals on how to manage migrant and refugee flows for discussion during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Brussels Monday and at a meeting in Luxembourg Thursday of EU, Western Balkan and East Mediterranean countries. The official said the EU was keen to help Turkey host more migrants and refugees on its own soil, to cooperate with Greece in preventing migrant flows across the Aegean and to build up Frontex and the EU's refugee assistance agency. EU leaders agreed at their emergency summit on Sept. 23 to make more funds available for such purposes. But it was not yet clear whether Erdogan would sign up to the Commission's idea of an "action plan," the official said. He said establishing camps for up to 2 million people in Turkey was "not in line with what we have been discussing" but could not rule out that German officials had such ideas. The newspaper report said the Commission and representatives had agreed on this plan last week and that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also coordinated on this with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. Erdogan is due to meet with Juncker Monday. A spokesman for the commission said the meeting was "precisely about seeing how to step up cooperation to jointly tackle the refugee crisis" and said any new announcements would be made at a news conference Monday. Asked about the report, a spokeswoman for Germany's government said Merkel, Juncker and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann had held a phone call Wednesday. The Turkish president Sunday said his country has taught Europe and the world a lesson on humanity by hosting 2 million refugees from Syria and Iraq. He was speaking at a rally in Strasbourg, France. He accused European nations of "confining refugees to the depth of the Mediterranean" in a reference to refugees who drown while trying to reach Europe. Meanwhile in Libya, the bodies of at least 95 migrants have been found washed ashore over the past five days, a spokesman for Libya's Red Crescent said Sunday. Most of the deceased are migrants from other African countries and search efforts continue, according to the organization. More than 20,000 people took to the streets in Vienna Saturday to show support for migrants and reject a recent upswing in support for Austria's right-wing, anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO). Last month alone, about 200,000 refugees and migrants – many fleeing war in Syria – entered the nation of 8.5 million, fueling support for the FPO in recent provincial elections and national polls. Protesters, including students and families with children, marched toward parliament, holding up posters reading, "In with the refugees, out with the FPO" and "No walls around Europe." "All refugees are welcome, whether their flight be due to war, persecution or other causes," a spokesman said as the marchers wound their way down the central Mariahilferstrasse thoroughfare. Mariahilferstrasse was decked out with some 2,000 portraits of migrants in order to "put a face to the figures" of the thousands who have streamed in over recent months after transiting through neighboring states.
