For years now, the Greek government has repeatedly been at the center of criticism regarding its immigration policy, but also the obstruction of the work of NGOs. Now, according to exclusive information from the magazine Spiegel“The European Commission has sent a 41-page letter to the government in Athens, which includes a list of 27 border protection “recommendations” to cover a number of shortcomings.

The latest action plan submitted by Greece was not even sufficient to fulfill its basic tasks – including the strategic planning of border control capabilities, a sustainable staffing plan or a risk analysis involving all national authorities and organizing cooperation their. Athens should “urgently” adopt a “national emergency plan for mass border crossings“, as mentioned in the letter of the Director General of Migration of the European Commission, Monique Paria, to the Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Panagiotis Theodorikakos.

Some of the shortcomings have been reported again and again since 2016, as the French official points out, which, in fact, forces Athens to submit a progress report within a month and then twice a year.

Spiegel finally states that “the Commission wishes to ascertain on the ground how its requests are implemented. During the second half of this year and in 2025, “audit visits” will be organized, with the specific aim of “assessing the measures taken to implement the recommendations”. The government of Athens has long been criticized for the conditions at Greece’s external borders, such as for example the illegal deportations of refugees. As early as last July, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson had called on the Greek government to end the refoulements – apparently without success».

SZ: “Great things” for those arriving in Greece

The Munich Gazette, Süddeutsche Zeitungalso refers at length to incidents of ill-treatment of refugees in Greek waters: “People tell terrible things about crossing the Greek border, they know it now, the Greeks beat them and chased them across the border, pushed their boats back into the sea.

[…] In Greece and Croatia, according to the European Committee against Torture, officials humiliated and beat people with guns, sticks and branches, while some were reportedly stripped of their badges and made to wear balaclavas. At the sea border – this mainly concerns Greece – the coast guard pushed the refugee boats back to sea after removing the fuel or even the engine.

The Commission has received credible reports that people who had already reached the mainland were put on rubber boats by officials, which were “dragged back to the sea and thrown into the water”. In mid-May, the New York Times published video footage of one such incident, in which hooded men forced a dozen people, including a month-old baby, onto an inflatable dinghy on the island of Lesvos and back into the sea. In a related question, the Greek government did not comment on this report or the objections of the Committee against Torture».

The SZ. adds at the end that “the regular use of force in Greece is linked to the effects of the agreement made in 2016 by the then chancellor Merkel for the E.U. with Turkish President Erdogan. Turkey would prevent people from crossing to the Greek islands, as well as take back everyone who was already there. In return, it has received almost nine billion euros to date from the EU. and the promise that the Union would accept refugees directly from Turkey.

Today, the number of arrivals to the Greek islands has decreased. However, the E.U. it has taken hardly any people from Turkey. Nationalism and hatred of refugees dominate on both sides of the Aegean. Turkey refuses to take people back from the islands and Greece refuses to detain them – and is therefore doing everything in its power to prevent their arrival».