Greece prevented round 260,000 migrants from getting into illegally in 2022 and arrested 1,500 traffickers, an official stated Saturday.
Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos was talking to ambassadors from different European Union nations plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom as he guided them to a nonetheless increasing border wall within the nation’s northeast.
Theodorikakos emphasised to the 28 envoys that Greece’s border can also be the EU’s exterior border.
“The task (of protecting the border) needs the support … of European public opinion, the European Union itself and its constituent members individually,” Theodorikakos stated. “It is our steadfast place that member states of first reception can’t be (the migrants’) solely European locations.
“There must be solidarity among member-states and a fair sharing of duties…close coordination is a must,” he stated.
The Greek minister’s sentiments had been echoed by Cypriot Ambassador Kyriakos Kenevezos, who spoke of the “need for understanding” from nations that don’t have exterior EU borders.
U.Ok. Ambassador Matthew Lodge stated that “our priority is to protect the human life and dignity endangered by the criminal trafficking networks … even though we are no longer an EU member, we are closely cooperating,”
Greece’s five-meter (16-foot) metal wall dealing with neighboring Turkey to the east throughout the Evros River — referred to as Meric in Turkey — presently extends greater than 27 kilometers (17 miles) and, in keeping with Greek authorities, helps cowl one other 10 kilometers (six miles). Greece is presently increasing the wall, including a 35-kilometer (22-mile) stretch with the last word aim of extending it to cowl a lot of the 192-kilometer (120-mile) border.
Greece has repeatedly accused Turkey of weaponizing the plight of migrants by encouraging them to cross the border to discomfit Greece and the remainder of the EU — successfully cooperating with traffickers. Turkey accuses Greece of violent pushbacks that endanger the lives of migrants.
Turkey, whom the Cypriot ambassador referred to as “the elephant in the room” in Saturday’s assembly, additionally has its personal migrants’ drawback — internet hosting about 5 million of them. EU leaders are nervous that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might encourage a mass exodus to the EU, the place a lot of the migrants and refugees wish to find yourself, ideally at one of many extra affluent bloc members.
The EU’s border safety company, Frontex, will add one other 400 border guards in Greece — 250 of them in February — to the present 1,800-member pressure, Theodorikakos stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”