Greece says it 'surpasses itself' in migrant crisis

Greece has rejected criticism about the management of its borders, after the EU Commission said it had "seriously neglected its obligations", activating a process that could lead to longer-term border checks in the Schengen area.

"Greece surpasses itself in order to fulfil its obligations," the Greek government spokesperson, Olga Gerovasili, said in a statement on Wednesday evening (27 January).

"This is a very severe situation and blame game is no effective management for this problem of historical proportions. The solution requires EU countries’ joint action," she added.

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, for his part assured that hotspots in Samos, Leros and Chios would soon be operational.

"We will be absolutely ready next month," he said, according to Kathimerini newspaper.

Earlier on Wednesday, EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said that Greece had to deal with "serious deficiencies in the carrying out of external border controls".

The assessment comes from a still secret Schengen evaluation report on Greece that the commission would forward to member states.

'Certain bureaucrats'

If the report is adopted by the member states, the commission will issue recommendations, with which Greece would have three months to comply.

"More needs to be done to ensure the proper management of our external borders," Dombrovskis said. "This includes proper reception, registration, relocation or return of migrants in order to bring Schengen's functioning back to normal."

In Athens, Tsipras blamed “certain bureaucrats in Brussels” for not understanding the situation in his country. But at the next EU summit, on 18-19 February, he will come under pressure from his partners if nothing has changed on Greece's borders.

On 4 February, the German and French interior ministers, Thomas de Maiziere and Bernard Cazeneuve, will come to Athens and then the island of Lesbos to have a look at the situation on the ground.

Last weekend, and at an EU interior ministers' meeting in Amsterdam, some countries, led by Austria, floated the idea of excluding Greece from the free-movement Schengen area. The ministers council asked the commission to study the possibility of extending border checks in the area up to two years.

Wednesday's announcement by the commission is a first step in that direction, as Greek non-compliance with any issued recommendations would allow countries to extend border checks.

Turkey’s compliance

"The Greeks must suffer the consequences," said Belgian secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken. Earlier this week, he had proposed that Greece host 200,000 to 300,000 migrants in camps to prevent them from going further into the EU.

The Greek government denounced these moves and rejected responsibility for the situation.

"We consider that pursuing Greece’s ‘media isolation' is counterproductive," spokeswoman Gerovassili said.

"Greece has repeatedly called for enhancing Frontex human resources and logistics, while responsiveness to these demands has only been partial. The relocation program … has not been implemented, as from the initial target of 160,000 refugees, only 414 have been relocated. Despite international agreements, irregular migrants’ readmission by their respective countries of origin, including Turkey, has shown results close to zero," she said.

"Managing the refugee flows depends primordially on Turkey and on Turkey’s compliance with what has been agreed, Gerovasili insisted.

"However, the EU-Turkey agreement does not advance, without anyone in Greece being responsible for that," she said.