Greece accused of ‘seriously neglecting’ border obligations

On Monday, Belgian State Secretary for Migration Theo Francken said Greece should organise shelter for up to 300 000 people “in major refugee camps” along the coast, in an interview with the VRT broadcaster.

But Greeks are increasingly anxious that their country, facing a steady inflow of refugees and migrants from Turkey, will become isolated by the rest of Europe to serve as a buffer for people stranded there, Athens daily Kathimerini said.

Norway returned 230 people to Russian Federation, but now Moscow says it will take no more, citing “security reasons”, Radio Free Europe reports.

The German government has signaled it’s unlikely to ease border controls on May 13, when its temporary border measures legally expire.

Greece has been accused of not registering migrants or prohibiting their travel. If it fails and after three months “serious deficiencies persist”, the commission could require Greece to reimpose border controls, to any extent, internally or externally.

“In interview with Die Zeit last week, Mouzalas said that the Greek border is “perfectly protected” and stressed that threatening to suspend his country from the Schengen area was “absolutely senseless”, adding that “[European] politicians resort to the populist accusations only to appease their own voters”.

He warned that a draft report of an evaluation made by an European Union mission in November, if adopted by a majority of the EU’s 28 members states, could result in Greeks losing their passport-free access to the much of Europe.

More than 600,000 refugees and migrants fleeing Syria, Afghanistan and other war-torn countries arrived in Greece from Turkey past year, risking the short but risky sea crossing, often on inflatable rafts.

Angry EU leaders are now one step closer to kicking Greece out of the Schengen agreement after discovering how it was failing to impose Schengen rules on several fronts.

Will Greece be suspended from Schengen? That’s only likely to be along the same borders that now have them, unless the refugee routes move.

The commission would then review their reports before approving the reintroduction of controls.

The Czech and Slovak prime ministers say the European Union needs a “Plan B” in case Greece can’t manage the influx of migrants through its territory.

People resettling in Germany also have to contribute to their living costs, and the Netherlands has taken a reported 700,000 euros from refugees in that country since 2008.

“More needs to be done to ensure the proper management of our external borders”, Dombrovskis said. Some European countries, including Slovakia, have blasted Greece for being unable to secure its border, which forms part of the Schengen area.

Thus far, what the countries have done has been within the legal limits of Schengen regulations.

There has been rising concern that Greece could be effectively frozen out of Schengen, with Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner warning last week that Athens could face “temporary exclusion” from the zone.

In December, Pakistan sent back at least 30 undocumented migrants that Greece was trying to repatriate after saying Greece had failed to provide adequate proof that they were Pakistani, a claim later disputed by the EU.