Inside Story

Is the European Union facing a new refugee crisis?

Refugees and migrants try to reach Europe after Turkey opened its borders.

Turkey and the European Union are on a new collision course because of the millions of war refugees and migrants it is looking after.

Tens of thousands, mostly Syrians exiled in Turkey, are heading towards the borders with Bulgaria and Greece.

That’s after Turkey eased border controls following the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers in an air raid in Idlib, Syria’s last rebel-held province.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long threatened to open what he calls the “floodgates of refugees” if European allies did not provide more support in Syria.

Erdogan has accused the EU of failing to keep its promises in a deal to send billions of dollars in return for sheltering Syrian refugees.

Do EU leaders have the political will to tackle the potential influx of refugees?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Gerald Knaus – Founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative think-tank

Marianna Karakoulaki – Researcher on violence and borders at the University of Birmingham

Sanj Srikanthan – Chief executive of Shelterbox, an international disaster relief charity working in Syria