Are we seeing the same refugee crisis as we did in 2015? I asked this question in June of last year when there was a significant increase in the number of refugees in Bosnia. As the year progressed, there were growing indications that the EU would soon be struggling with a new refugee crisis. Now it is there: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has carried out his repeated threat and “opened the gates”.

Addendum reporters Georg Gassauer and Johannes Perterer are in Greece and Bulgaria in the respective border area with Turkey to provide you with information. Instead of taking over agency reports and media reports, some of which are difficult to verify, we will get our own picture at the borders.

In our editorial office in Vienna, we will deal with political and international law issues in order not only to provide you with an overview but also a view of the confusing situation. In a daily update, you will be provided with the latest developments and backgrounds in a compact manner at lunchtime.

3 March

The situation in the border area is still tense, but according to our reporter Georg Gassauer, it is largely under control: “The Greeks have massively increased the presence of the military and police. The situation has calmed down significantly. “

On Saturday, according to the Greek authorities, more than 24,000 people tried to cross the border. Between Monday (6 a.m. local time) and Tuesday morning (6 a.m. local time), the Greek border officials prevented 5,183 people from illegally crossing the border. Around 1,000 of them last night. 45 people were arrested. Most of those arrested come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco and Bangladesh. In contrast to Syrian war refugees, these migrants do not enjoy protection against deportation in Turkey and are therefore under particularly great pressure to leave the country.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Council Jean Michel and President of the European Parliament David Sassoli have announced for this afternoon. They will meet for talks at the border crossing in Kastanies. Georg Gassauer sees the visit as an important sign to the Greek population: “Many Greeks feel that the EU has let them down in recent years. The frustration is huge. This is not only evident here, but everywhere in the country, especially on Lesbos, Chios, and Samos. “

While the situation in the north seems to be calming down, the situation on the Aegean islands is becoming more acute. A child drowned yesterday in a boat accident off the coast of Lesbos. 47 other refugees were saved by the Greek coast guard. From Sunday to today, more than a thousand migrants and refugees have arrived on the islands of the East Aegean. Locals tried to stop refugee boats from mooring.

According to the Turkish government, President Erdoğan said yesterday in a phone call to German Chancellor Merkel that it was time for the EU to take over its share of the burden and that he was unwilling to close the borders again. Turkish state media report an offer by the EU to transfer Turkey one billion euros as emergency aid. Erdoğan rejected this offer and pointed out that Turkey had already spent more than $ 40 billion on the care of refugees. An assertion that is difficult to verify.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler have massively criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the morning. A press conference in Vienna said that the rush of thousands of migrants to the Turkish-Greek border was deliberately organized by Erdogan in order to blackmail the EU. Kogler described the procedure as “malicious provocation by the Turkish president”, the behavior was an “attack on the EU and Greece”.

At the same time, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed that there would be no border crossings to Greece from Turkey. “The morale is high, we are doing our job, in view of the national effort, the whole people is united.”