The Greek coastguard has rescued 29 migrants attempting to get to Italy from the Greek island of Lefkada.

It is the first time migrants have been picked up trying to cross to Italy by boat since the Greek land border with Macedonia was closed in March.

The migrants, including two children aged four and five, were found adrift in the Ionian Sea on Sunday. Their dinghy had apparently been cut adrift by smugglers around 15 nautical miles from Lefkada.

Thousands of migrants streamed through the Greek border with Macedonia last year heading for Germany via the Balkans.

But border controls have been tightened leaving thousands stranded in Greece, leading to fears many may now risk attempting to get to Italy by sea.

It is the first time migrants have been picked up trying to cross to Italy by boat since the Greek land border with Macedonia was closed in March

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a rally in Istanbul on Sunday

The EU’s border agency Frontex yesterday revealed how 13,800 migrants were rescued between North Africa and Italy last week.

Meanwhile Turkey yesterday warned that it will rip up a £4.7billion deal with Brussels to stop migrants crossing to the Greek islands unless the EU makes it easier for its citizens to visit Europe.

The row threatens to wreck the agreement and re-open the route just as the continent struggles to cope with a mass influx of people into Italy from North Africa.

Officials said yesterday that nearly 14,000 migrants had been rescued off the coast of Libya in just the past week.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, prior to their meeting at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul last week

HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR BLASTS NEW GREEK MIGRANT CENTRES New migrant centres set up to house migrants transferred from the Greek border camp of Idomeni do not meet international standards, a human rights monitor said Monday. Tineke Strik of the Council of Europe gave her assessment after visiting three new reception and registration centres in the northern city of Thessaloniki. 'I am impressed by what the Greek authorities have done in such a short space of time to create new facilities for the people from Idomeni,' said Strik, migration official for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Strasbourg-based Council. 'However, this has been a missed opportunity to create decent facilities that meet international standards. In the places that I visited, there was no privacy, no fire safety, no light and no ventilation and people have no information on their situation or their prospects,' she added. Strik, a Dutch deputy, visited the new centres on former industrial sites on Sunday and remains in Greece with a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly visiting several refugee camps in Athens and on the island of Lesbos on Monday and Tuesday. Up to 12,000 migrants found themselves blocked in the Idomeni camp, on the Greece-Macedonia border, after the migrant route north through the Balkans was closed down at the start of March. Many of those transferred to Thessaloniki 'are hoping to be reunited with family members already in other European countries,' said Strik. 'Their psychological well-being will depend on the rapid completion of the pre-registration process and the ability to exercise their right to apply for asylum,' she added. Advertisement

Under the deal signed by EU leaders and Turkey in March, it was agreed that Europe would hand over billions to fund Turkish refugee camps and loosen travel rules for its 80million citizens if it took back all migrants arriving on the Greek islands.

But the agreement is on the verge of collapse because Turkey has failed to meet all 72 criteria set out by the EU for it to fulfil before its people are allowed to travel to continental Europe without needing visas.

The main sticking point is a requirement for Turkey to change its laws so academics and journalists can no longer prosecuted as terrorists.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday said it was ‘impossible’ for the country to make the alterations and warned the EU again that it is ready to abandon the deal.