Europe

EU gives Greece deadline to fix border control issues

Athens, under pressure from migrant crisis, has three months to implement 50 measures

Macedonian Army soldiers erect a second fence on the border line with Greece, near the southern Macedonia’s town of Gevgelija. The European Union has told Greece to fix serious holes in its border controls or face suspension from the border-free Schengen zone for up to two years. Photograph: Boris Grdanoski/AP.
Macedonian Army soldiers erect a second fence on the border line with Greece, near the southern Macedonia’s town of Gevgelija. The European Union has told Greece to fix serious holes in its border controls or face suspension from the border-free Schengen zone for up to two years. Photograph: Boris Grdanoski/AP.
Fri Feb 12 2016 - 12:33

The European Union has told Greece to fix serious holes in its border controls or face suspension from the border-free Schengen zone for up to two years.

The move comes as souther European continue to struggle to deal with the volume of people arriving on their shores as a result of the migrant crisis.

An EU source said the vote in an EU ministerial council was passed despite opposition from Athens.

It gives Greece three months to implement 50 recommendations to tighten border checks.

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As that appears impracticable, it could trigger an unprecedented activation of rules allowing member states to reimpose controls on internal Schengen frontiers for up to two years.

EU officials and diplomats say that the move is not intended to isolate or stigmatise Greece but rather to ensure that border controls elsewhere in Europe, including between Germany and Austria, can remain in place without breaking the law once derogations based on other parts of the Schengen code expire.

Reuters