Migration: Greece criticises controls at German borders

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis criticizes the German government’s decision to reintroduce controls at all German borders starting next week. The answer to irregular migration cannot be to unilaterally abolish the Schengen Agreement, said the conservative politician on the news channel “Talk Radio”. Throwing the ball into other countries’ court “cannot be tolerated”. The Schengen area allows around 420 million people in 29 countries to travel freely between member states without border controls.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has ordered that there will be stationary controls at all land borders from Monday. This applies to France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Such controls already exist at the borders with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. They are not actually planned for the Schengen area.

Greece is fulfilling its obligations as an EU country with external borders, stressed Mitsotakis. In response to criticism from humanitarian organizations and some parties in Central Europe that Athens is turning away migrants across the board (illegal “pushbacks”) when people smugglers try to bring them from Turkey to Greece, Mitsotakis said: “The Greek coast guard has saved thousands of people. And it is offensive to spread conspiracy theories.” But active deterrence is also the task of the coast guard. “You cannot assume that the coast guard is a reception service,” he continued.

The Greek government has not yet made it clear how it would react if German authorities request more returns to Greece under the Dublin Agreement of refugees who have already been granted asylum in Greece or have applied for it but have travelled on to Germany. Media quoted sources in the Interior Ministry as saying that this procedure is not a “simple matter”.