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Greek gov't braces for borders closure prospect: officials

Xinhua, February 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Greek government is bracing for the prospect of borders' closure over the handling of the refugee crisis, according to two top cabinet ministers.

They assured that Greece will be able to deal with the thousands of people who may be stuck in the country and criticized EU partners for delay in adequately assisting in efforts to address an international challenge.

"There was no legal provision for expelling Greece from the Schengen passport free travel area but the countries on Greece's border, such as FYROM, which are not member states, could seal their borders," Deputy Migration Policy Minister Yannis Mouzalas said addressing the parliament on Thursday.

"We must be able to handle the situation if tens of thousands of refugees and migrants are unable to leave Greece," he said, adding that the country can deal with around 60,000 people in such a case.

"We have to be prepared for every scenario, even for borders' closing," Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragassakis told a local television channel.

The scenario of a temporary expulsion of Greece in coming months has been fuelled as Athens has come under increasing pressure from EU partners and neighbor countries lately to improve the protection of its borders to stem the flow of migrants and refugees from Turkey, speed up registration procedures and provide humane conditions at hot spots on the Greek islands.

In autumn 2015 Greece undertook the commitment to build and operate five such hot spots and two relocation centers in the mainland. So far only one is running on Lesvos island, as local communities have blocked the establishment of the centers in most cases.

During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras assured once again that everything will be ready by next week and requested that all sides will meet their commitments on time, "because agreements cannot be a la carte."

All centers will be operational by the end of this month, Shipping Minister Theodoros Dritsas told AMNA on Thursday, as Mouzalas was criticizing the EU for delay in releasing agreed funds for the management of the refugee crisis.

Addressing the Greek parliament Mouzalas implied that the delay may be linked to efforts by some partners to force debt laden Greece to keep more refugees within its territory.

More than 850,000 refugees and migrants landed on Greece shores in 2015 and a further 70,000 reached the country so far in 2016, according to the latest official statistics from the International Organization for Migration which underlined that the number of people arriving in Greece in January was ten times higher than the number recorded in early 2015.

Should the pace continues as it is, Greece and Europe may face a larger challenge this year.

For debt ridden Greece the financial cost of tackling the challenge is enormous. Mouzalas stressed on Thursday that the cost of the refugee crisis for Greece will most likely exceed one billion euros annually, higher than the 600 million euros estimate initially given by the central Bank of Greece. Endit