Roundup: Greece in dispute with Austria on refugee issues

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz's proposal for the closure of Greece's border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as a means to add pressure on Athens to take more actions to stem the refugee flows, sparked angry responses from Greek officials on Monday.

"If the northern border is shut down leaving Greece for more than 24 hours with the refugees on its territory then its interest in accepting European help will quickly change," Kurz said in an interview with local newspaper Nea (News).

"We must slow the refugee influx by stopping them at some border. If not at the Greece-Turkey border, then it can be the Greece-Macedonia border," the Austrian official said.

His comments dropped as a bomb in Athens, other Greek media noted, reproducing the remarks.

"Such statements are provocative and unacceptable as they are essentially perceived as a direct threat against Greece," Marina Chryssoveloni, spokesman of the parliamentary group of the Independent Greeks, the junior party in the two-partite coalition government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said characteristically in a press release.

"Obviously these statements reflect the planning of some countries or circles within the EU. But they do not recognize the fact that Greece fulfils its pledges regarding the management of refugee flows," she stressed.

Meanwhile, in Prague the so-called Visegrad Group summit of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic was discussing a backup border control system with FYROM and Bulgaria's leadership that foresees the closing of borders with Greece.

The handling of the refugee crisis has gradually divided European countries. Some put the blame on Greece for failing to effectively protect its borders, allowing almost a million refugees and migrants into Europe in a year. They push for Greece's exclusion of the Schengen free passport travel zone.

Others insist on the necessity to find a European solution to a common challenge.

"The EU's response to the refugee crisis will be given in cooperation with Greece and not against her," the European Commission's spokesman Margaritis Schinas commented from Brussels on Monday.

Shortly earlier the commission had approved the release of 12.7 million euros (14.2 million U.S. dollars) of emergency funding to Greece for the creation of reception centers for refugees.

Greek officials have repeatedly criticized their European partners of failing to meet their promises and give Greece more financial and technical help to deal with the refugee flows.

Ahead of Thursday's EU summit on the refugee crisis, the Greek leader will hold talks on Tuesday with visiting European Council President Donald Tusk and on Wednesday with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels. Endit