EU tells Turkey migrant flows 'still way too high'

The number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to EU member Greece is still "way too high" despite a November deal with Ankara aiming to limit the flow, the EU's first vice president said yesterday.

"The numbers are still way too high in Greece, between 2,000-3,000 people (arriving) every day. We cannot be satisfied at this stage," Frans Timmermans told reporters after talks with Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir in Ankara.

Under an action plan agreed in November, EU leaders pledged three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in aid for the more than 2.2 million Syrian refugees sheltering in Turkey, in exchange for Ankara acting to reduce the flow.

Under pressure at from voters at home, EU leaders want to reduce the numbers coming to the European Union after over one million migrants reached Europe in 2015.

Yet there has so far been no sign of a significant reduction in the numbers of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and other troubled states undertaking the perilous crossing in rubber boats from Turkey's western coast to Greece.

In the latest tragedy, Turkish authorities last week found the bodies of at least 36 migrants, including several children, washed up on beaches and floating off its western coast after their boats sank.

"I believe we need to speed our work to get some of the projects in place," said Timmermans.

"I also said to the minister that we need... to be very explicit on what elements of the action plan have already been implemented and where we still need work."