ATHENS: Greece is slipping into a “danger zone” without the funds or resources to handle a fast-growing wave of refugees trying to enter the European Union from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq, the government warned yesterday.
A surge in people fleeing violence in Africa and the Middle East has increased the pressure on the euro zone’s most indebted country, a major gateway into the EU for migrants who attempt risky boat crossings through porous sea borders.
The latest influx was driven mainly by wars in Syria, the Gaza Strip, Libya and northern Iraq, Shipping and Maritime Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told reporters.
“We are facing a great challenge,” Varvitsiotis said, adding that there was a pool of more than two million migrants — half of whom are Syrian and other migrants now in neighbouring Turkey — who could attempt to enter the EU via Greece.
“Definitely due to the budget limitations we are having, the limited resources and the lack of great support from the European Union, I think that we are getting into a danger zone.”
Greece’s worst post-World War Two economic slump has forced many thousands out of work and catapulted the far-right, anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party to prominence as the country’s third largest political force. Human rights groups says migrants face routine discrimination and are often at risk of racist assault.
The Greek Coast Guard said it detained more than 17,000 undocumented migrants — over half of them Syrians — in the first eight months of this year, up 55 percent from the same period in 2013. Migrant arrests at sea are forecast to triple to more than 31,000 by the end of the year, compared with 2013.
Intercepted migrants are kept in austere detention centres pending court decisions on asylum requests, which can take a long time to resolve.
REUTERS
