EU: Frontex will remain in Greece
It appears that EU authorities are viewing Greece’s management of migrant flows more positively than in the recent past.
Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, assessed the management as “very good” on Thursday.
In a press conference Thursday, following the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, Johansson denied that Frontex, the bloc’s border and coast guard agency, is about to leave Greece, adding that she saw no tension between the agency and Greece after the deadly capsizing of a ship full of migrants off the country’s southwest coast in June. Johansson said that cooperation between Greece and Frontex is very good and that the latter’s presence in the country is important, for the protection both of the borders and of the migrants’ and refugees’ fundamental rights.
Asked about Greece’s demand for a renewal of the agreement on migration between Greece and Turkey, Johansson said that the agreement simply has to be implemented and not reopened. It was not immediately clear how this would affect Greece’s plan to relax visa requirements for Turkish visitors to the Schengen countries as an incentive for Turkey’s cooperation in policing its side of the border, cracking down on human trafficking gangs and accepting returns of people who have crossed the EU borders illegally.
Johansson also mentioned her meeting with Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Dimitris Kairidis, their discussion about the increased migrant flows and reception centers becoming crowded again, especially on the islands of Lesvos and Samos. She said Greece could expect further financial assistance to deal with the increased flows, which Greek authorities expect to peak in November.
The Justice and Home Affairs Council itself was marked by disagreement between Germany and Italy; but since German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lifted his objections to a regulation on crisis management, EU authorities believe this will facilitate approval of a new migration and asylum pact by February 2024.
