Fix your borders or face isolation from Schengen countries, EU warns Greece
The European Commission said that Greece has failed in its obligation to conduct necessary steps before allowing migrants to flow into Europe.
Refugees walk towards the border with Serbia, from the transit center for refugees near northern Macedonian village of Tabanovce, on Tuesday. European Union nations took a step Monday toward isolating Greece amid acrimony over Athens' failure to stem the flow of migrants at its Mediterranean island borders. The member states 'gave a clear signal' that if they can't stop the migrants reaching Greece, they would consider helping Greece's neighbor Macedonia to better seal its border to slow the movement of migrants into other European countries.
Boris Grdanoski/AP
Greece could soon be suspended from Europe鈥檚 free-travel Schengen zone if the country doesn鈥檛 increase its border controls for migrants and refugees coming through the island nation, European Union officials said.
The European聽Commission聽said that Greece has failed its obligation of conducting necessary steps before allowing migrants to flow into Europe, in聽accordance with the rules governing Europe鈥檚 26-country passport-free travel area, known as Schengen.
The European Commission Vice President, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that an , carried out in November found that 鈥渢here is no effective identification and registration of irregular migrants, fingerprints are not being entered systematically into the system, 聽[and that ] travel documents are not being systematically checked for authenticity or against crucial security databases.鈥�
The draft response on Greece鈥檚 performance has to be endorsed by a qualified majority of EU governments, which will give Greece until May to tighten its border controls, before it could face isolation from the Schengen countries.
"If the necessary action is not being taken and deficiencies persist, there is a possibility to ... allow member states to temporarily close their borders," Dombrovskis said,
EU states, including Germany, Austria, and Hungary, have already introduced temporary border controls that are set to end in May but could be extended up to two years, according to Article 26 of the Schengen Borders Code, Article 26 of the code allows states to extend the controls
The Schengen zone has 26 members, with six having temporary borders, including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden.
Under the Schengen system, most EU travelers don鈥檛 have their passports checked against police databases at the EU's external borders, but that could change soon if the becomes law. The amendment would also require non-EU nationals who have a Schengen visa to carry identification, even though they have generally been exempted. The聽ID checks, however,聽have become more common聽since the terrorist attacks in Paris last November,聽
Greece has been the main gateway to Europe via Turkey. More than 850,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Greece last year, overwhelming and prompting officials to 鈥渓et refugees and migrants through, and deeper into Europe rather than keep them on Greek soil for proper registration,鈥� A further 44,000 have reached the Greek islands since the start of 2016, mostly arriving on Lesbos, Samos, and Chios from the Turkish mainland.
The European Commission, earlier this week, said that 鈥�60 percent of those entering the EU currently were 鈥榚conomic migrants鈥� who were not fleeing war, were not in need of protection and should be deported,鈥� contradicting statistics released by the Greek foreign minister showing that 鈥�90 percent of the new arrivals last year were from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, most of whom would routinely qualify for refugee status,