The city of Berlin will take in 80 to 100 children from Greek refugee camps, the German capital’s senator for interior affairs told broadcaster RTL on Tuesday.
European politicians are struggling to agree on what to do about tens of thousands of migrants trying to enter EU-member Greece since Ankara said last month it would no longer keep them.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition parties said on Monday they were ready to take in several hundred children from Greek camps together with other EU countries. They said they would target children who were sick or younger than 14 and unaccompanied.
Asked when the children could arrive in the Berlin, interior affairs senator Andreas Geisel told the broadcaster: “It now depends on how quickly the German government implements this decision. I think it’s more like today than tomorrow.”
Turkey wants more European support for hosting some 3.6 million refugees from Syria which it agreed to in 2016 in exchange for billions of euros in aid under a deal with the EU to keep a lid on migration to Europe.