Brussels, Belgium: European Union (EU) member states on Friday gave Greece a three-month ultimatum to remedy “deficiencies” in controlling the influx of refugees 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 who entered Europe last year in the continent’s biggest such crisis since the Second World War.
A report last month from the European Commission, the EU executive, found that Greece was failing to properly register and fingerprint refugees 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.
The document, seen by AFP, spelled out that Greece “within one month ... establish an action plan to remedy the deficiencies ... [and] within three months of the same date, it shall report on the implementation.”
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.
Such a scenario is outlined under article 26 of the Schengen border code.
Germany, which along with other member states introduced such border controls late last year, on Thursday extended the measures until May, the limit under current Schengen provisions.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday hosted George Clooney for talks on Europe’s refugee influx, her spokesman said, after the Hollywood idol offered to lend star power to help with the crisis.
Discussions between the German leader and Clooney, as well as his wife, Amal — a Lebanese-born human rights lawyer — focused on “refugee policies and their involvement in the IRC”, aid group International Rescue Committee (IRC), Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert wrote on Twitter.
Britain’s former foreign minister David Miliband, who is now head of the IRC, also attended the discussions, Merkel’s spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz added.
“There was an exchange on refugee policy as well as issues surrounding international conflicts during the meeting which was held at the request of Mr and Mrs Clooney,” she added.
