Next wave of refugees may be from Lebanon: EU
The European Union (EU) commissioner says the next wave of refugees to be heading toward European countries could come from Syria’s neighbor Lebanon.
Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn told the German Die Welt daily on Saturday that the recent developments in Lebanon were “dramatic.”
“The next wave of refugees might come from there,” Hahn said.
Hahn said that Lebanon was one of the “most fragile countries in the region,” since it is hosting over 1.1 million Syrians who have fled foreign-backed militancy in their country, which has killed more than 250,000 people.
The EU official added that Lebanon, which is currently dealing with “political instability,” is also struggling with a “high unemployment rate and exorbitant public debt.”
This comes as EU leaders have agreed to help United Nations agencies with one billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) to assist the some four million Syrian refugees currently living in neighboring Middle Eastern countries.
Thousands of refugees from Syria continue to arrive in Europe on a daily basis, risking their lives by taking boats from Turkey to Greece, in the hope of reaching wealthier EU states such as Germany by traveling overland through the Balkans.
A total of some 500,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, have entered EU countries by sea so far this year. Thousands have lost their lives as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
This is while some EU countries have closed their borders or imposed restrictions at crossing points to prevent the influx of refugees.
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