EU gives Greece 3 months to strengthen border

EU member states on Friday gave Greece a three-month ultimatum to remedy “deficiencies” in controlling the influx of migrants or face border controls with the rest of the Schengen passport-free zone, EU sources said. The decision taken by ministers over Greek objections is the culmination of weeks of pressure on Greece, the main gateway for the one million refugees and migrants who entered Europe last year.

A report last month from the European Commission, the EU executive, found that Greece was failing to properly register and fingerprint migrants when inspections were carried out at the Turkish land border and several islands in the Aegean Sea last November. “It is of utmost importance that Greece addresses the issues identified in the report adopted by the commission as a matter of priority and urgency,” EU ministers said in the recommendation that two EU sources said was adopted Friday.

If Greece fails to remedy the problems by mid-May, Brussels could authorise other member states to exceptionally extend border controls within the EU’s cherished Schengen area, including with Greece, for up to two years, instead of the normal six months. Austria told Macedonia on Friday to be ready to “completely stop” the flow of migrants across its southern border from Greece and said it would do the same on its own frontiers within months.

Macedonia has erected two lines of metal fencing topped with razor wire along the border at the main crossing point from Greece for migrants, crossing the Balkan peninsula en route to western Europe. “Most probably in the coming months our maximum number will be reached, so Austria will have to stop the migrants at its border,” Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz said. “Macedonia must be ready to completely stop the entry of migrants on its borders,” he said.

Meanwhile, Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his anti-migrant rhetoric, on Friday called for the “deportation” of economic migrants and suspected terrorists amid what he called the EU’s “complete failure” to tackle the migrant crisis. “The EU has completely failed to solve the migration crisis,” Mr Zeman said. “The only solution to the migrant crisis is the deportation of economic migrants and those advocating religious violence, religious hatred, in short, plotting terrorism.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal refugee policy, is not sustainable in the long run, French PM Manuel Valls warned Friday. “This policy, which is justified temporarily, is unsustainable in the long term,” he said.

German regional media group Funke, pointing to the limited capacity not just in Germany, but also across Europe, to receive newcomers.