FM Kovač: Reception of refugees from Turkey depends on realisation at EU level

(Hina) - The reception of migrants and refugees from Turkey by Croatia depends on whether the quota agreed to will actually be realised at the European Union (EU) level, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said

(Hina) - The reception of migrants and refugees from Turkey by Croatia depends on whether the quota agreed to will actually be realised at the European Union (EU) level, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said on Friday on the margins of a round table discussion on Croatia as a junction between central and southeast Europe.

The Foreign Ministry and the Social Policy Ministry will be involved in the reception programme in Croatia, he said.

"However, all that depends on whether that (reception) will even be realised at the European Union level," Kovač told reporters when asked what the reception of refugees would look like in practise.

Consultations are underway regarding their accommodation and the centre in Slavonski Brod will continue to operate, he said.

According to the agreement between the EU and Turkey signed in March, Ankara undertook to accept all migrants and refugees who enter the country illegally across the Aegean Sea and in exchange for each migrant coming to Turkey, one would be accepted by the EU.

Croatia agreed to take in 500 refugees and Kovač said on Tuesday that Croatia would meet that obligation. Croatia is expected to take in a total 1,600 refugees based on two programmes - those relocated from EU member states and the programme of resettlement from third countries (Turkey, Jordan) to the EU.

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