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Norway not to take additional refugees from EU: minister

Xinhua, April 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Norway's immigration minister said on Friday the Nordic country will not take any additional refugees from the European Union (EU) even though the bloc has signed a new agreement with Turkey, news agency NTB reported.

Norway has agreed to accept 1,500 asylum seekers over two years as part of the EU's relocation scheme for refugees and the first EU asylum seekers are expected to arrive in the country within about a month's time, according to the report.

"We have set a quota for refugees from the EU. It is not appropriate to increase it," Norway's Minister of Immigration and Integration Sylvi Listhaug was quoted as saying.

She said it would be alright some of the asylum seekers within the quota may come from Turkey, but stressed the total sum of 750 this year and 750 the next year remains unchanged.

"Norway is among the countries that has contributed the most to the relocation program when measured by its population," said Listhaug, who was in Denmark on Friday to visit a tent camp for asylum seekers with her Danish counterpart Inger Stojberg.

Turkish and European leaders agreed on March 18 a deal to stop or at least reduce irregular migrants who arrive in Europe via illegal channels, and to encourage legal settlements.

Under the deal, all migrants entering Greece after March 20 that do not make an asylum request there will be readmitted to Turkey; one Syrian refugee on the Greek islands will be returned to Turkey and, in exchange, a Syrian asylum seeker in Turkey will find a new home in Europe. Enditem