RPT: REVIEW - European Leadership Pledges To Support Athens Amid Migration Crisis

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2020) On Tuesday, the heads of the three main EU institutions visited the Greek-Turkey border, promising to support Athens as it struggles to contain the rapid influx of migrants from Turkey.

Since February 28, thousands of migrants have been moving toward the border with Greece after Ankara decided it would not prevent them from crossing into the European Union anymore.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission and David Sassoli, the president of the European Parliament visited the Evros regional unit on the border with Turkey, accompanied by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in order to see the situation for themselves.

The EU leaders gave a press conference, where they stressed Europe's commitment to stand behind Greece in the time of crisis.

"I would also like to express our support for everything you did with your security services, with your team, and with your government the last days. There is one very important point: the Greek borders are the European borders. What you are doing is important for Greece and it's crucial as well for the future of the European Union," Michel said in his speech, stressing the importance of both border protection as well as the defense of human rights and international law.

Ursula von der Leyen promised to support Greece by providing both financial support and deploying forces of Frontex migration agency to assists the Greek efforts at the border.

Nevertheless, the question remains: what will happen with the migrants, stopped while crossing the strait leading to the Greek islands or caught after crossing the Greek border? They will very probably be integrated into the crowds of asylum seekers accepted by the European Union. This might be the meaning of the carefully crafted message of "human dignity and international law" expressed by Charles Michel to avoid fueling the fire of European discontent about the absence of migration policy in Europe.

As the EU leadership pledges to defend Europe's borders, some have been complaining that it is too little too late.

"The 2016 EU-Turkey agreement saved Brussels time, but it did not use that time ... The EU has not done nothing much for its own security ... Joint border surveillance by Frontex is not yet reality, neither are detention centers for migrants outside Europe or even simply on-site assistance for the 'first-line' countries, such as Greece and Italy," Filip De Winter, a member of the Belgian Federal parliament, told Sputnik.

He recalled that European politicians like Italy's Matteo Salvini, Hungary's Viktor Orban, and Austria's Sebastian Kurz have been asking for the aforementioned measures to no avail.

"Greece should stop waiting for Frontex and the European Commission for help and should act as an autonomous state sealing its borders. At the same time, all these illegal immigrants should be transferred to uninhabited Greek islands and then deported to the countries from which they came. This is the wish of the Greeks and this must be done," Emmanouil Fragkos, a European lawmaker from the Greek Solution party, told Sputnik.

At the same time, the Green and Left parties are calling for Europe to re-open its borders. The head of the German Green party, Annalena Baerbock, has asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to transport migrants from the Greek-Turkish border to Germany and to welcome them.

As the migrant crisis unfolds many Greek politicians have been expressing their ire with the Turkish government, as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not a popular figure in Greece in the best of times.

"It is clear that Turkey, which sees its army being destroyed in Syria and in Libya, wants to transfer all that pressure to Europe and seek help from the West. Here Europe should say a big NO to Erdogan and stop following the wishes of Germany, which is an outrageous cover for the Turkish regime," Fragkos said.

Ioannis Lagos, an independent member of the European Parliament, and a former member of the far-right Golden Dawn party, has similar sentiments.

"Obviously, Turkey has taken a lesson both in Syria and in Libya. Both Assad and Haftar, who I fully respect, have proven the incapacity of the Turkish army. As a result, Turkey tries to pass on the problem to the European Union. I wish and hope that the fellow Orthodox Russia will treat Turkey as a state that violates international law and despises Orthodoxy," Lagos told Sputnik.

With the crisis continuing unabated voices accusing Turkey of "blackmailing" Europe and calling for an increase in border security are becoming considerably louder.