“I did not criticize Greece,” German Interior Minister Nancy Fesser replied to DW’s question about Germany’s harsh criticism of Greece in previous years for human rights violations while protecting the EU’s external borders.

At the press conference he gave at the close of the inter-ministerial meeting on security and migration in the framework of the Berlin Process for the Western Balkans he added in response to DW:

“For us it is important to talk as equal European partners with Greece about how we can on the one hand safeguard the EU’s external borders – this is very important especially in relation to Frontex operations. On the other hand, it is important to talk with Greece about how people who have applied for asylum in Greece and come to Germany will be able to return to Greece,” he continued, adding that the German government has a “very good relationship” with the Greek government. regarding these issues and that this “will continue”.

The Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum Nikos Panagiotopoulos also had a series of contacts with his counterparts with a triple message: unilateral actions harm the spirit of the Schengen Agreement and European solidarity, we should not dramatize the situation of German controls because it is nothing new, but cooperation and coordination is required for migration in Europe because it is a complex and common problem, for which Greece has borne a huge burden.

“The discussion took place in a very good atmosphere of mutual understanding and I don’t expect any surprises,” he said about the meeting he had with the German Deputy Minister of Immigration, Bert Kroeser. “But I believe that at this juncture, which is very critical for the future, not only for the management of migration in Europe but also for the spirit of solidarity on which the EU was built, it is important for our country, which accepted all the weight and more than the weight attributed to her, to be very clear in the formulation of her positions” he said while speaking to Greek journalists on the sidelines of the conference.

“Let’s not dramatize situations. Emphasis on solidarity”

“Of course, the German decision is also problematic, but don’t forget that it is about imposing controls on Germany’s land borders with other European countries, so not closing borders,” he said, commenting on the German moves since yesterday, Monday, September 16, and for a six-month period. “Imposition of controls by the Germans and also by other countries to other countries was in force before Germany announced what it announced a few days ago. Therefore, it would be good to be aware of the situation in its real dimensions, not to rush to dramatize situations and to continue to cooperate in the spirit of European solidarity”.

Regarding the issue of secondary migration from Greece to Germany, an issue that Germany has been raising continuously in recent years in Greece, Nikos Panagiotopoulos commented that it is known. “Germany has been putting this on the table for a long time, not in the last week because of a dramatic political pressure on this government after the results of the state elections. In any case, we discuss everything in a climate of understanding and nothing is going to be done in terms of imposing one’s position on the other. We still have a long future.”

In fact, as he added, the return of immigrants from Germany to Greece is “technically” difficult. The main problem is firstly the identification of the individuals and then there is the issue of the German court rulings that prohibit returns to Greece. “We have a long way to go and it would be good not to jump to conclusions.”

German turn to “older perceptions” about Greece

Asked by DW about how Germany views Greece, given that it has criticized it in the past for controversial border guarding methods, Nikos Panagiotopoulos said: “Greece has been criticized but on the other hand the country’s effort to create structures and procedures in order to manage immigration as a country of first reception but also as a country through which someone who illegally enters European territory wants to pass, because the final destination for the vast majority of all of them was and is Germany”.

As he observes: “Germany is apparently making a shift in terms of its earlier perceptions of immigration. Here we go to find common ground. And I think we will find him. Greece did nothing but maintain a difficult balance between protecting its borders and European borders on the one hand and rescuing people in danger especially at sea on the other, welcoming them, registering them, identifying them and to promote processes so that they are promoted where they want to go. The process is complicated.” According to the Greek minister: “Greece is asking for nothing more and nothing less than the implementation of what the United Europe has decided.