After SPIEGEL revelations - the EU Commission cuts the money for the Greek coast guard

2021-08-29T07:03:42.717Z

Greek border officials systematically expose asylum seekers to the Aegean Sea. Now the EU Commission is reacting: At least it does not want to pay for the brutal operations.

Enlarge image

Released asylum seekers from Afghanistan in the Aegean Sea

Photo: Emrah Gurel / AP

They stab rubber dinghies, stop asylum seekers at gunpoint - and systematically launch them out to sea in non-powered life rafts.

SPIEGEL has fully documented human rights violations by Greek border guards.

Now, according to SPIEGEL information, the EU Commission is also reacting to the so-called pushbacks: It does not want to pay for the brutal actions at the border and is refusing the Greek coast guard additional money for the time being - the Greek government should first establish an independent control mechanism.

"Greece has requested additional funds for border protection, especially in the Aegean," said the EU Commissioner responsible, Ylva Johansson, to SPIEGEL.

"We said that such a payment should be linked to the establishment of the mechanism to monitor fundamental rights." A working group has now been set up.

"I expect progress on this matter."

Millions for the Greek Coast Guard

Since 2015, the EU has paid Greece more than € 643 million to deal with the refugee crisis.

Some of the money goes directly to the Greek coast guard.

For example, from 2016 to 2017, the border guards received 15 million euros in emergency aid to cover their running costs.

"A first step in the right direction"

Tineke Strik, EU parliamentarian, on the blockade of the Commission

Now Athens is asking again for money to expand patrols in the Aegean.

In March, the Minister responsible for the Coast Guard, Ioannis Plakiotakis, met with Johansson in Athens.

In order to be able to monitor the EU borders more intensively, 15.8 million euros are urgently needed, he said.

The operations at sea are not a cheap undertaking - and the equipment is disproportionately expensive.

The Greek coast guard has been carrying out the pushbacks systematically since March 2020.

The border guards carry inflatable life rafts made by a Greek manufacturer.

The border guards often force asylum seekers onto the orange rafts, drag them out into the open sea and let them float in Turkish waters without being driven.

Even those seeking protection who have made it to an island like Lesbos or Samos are brought back out to sea.

They often fear for their lives for hours.

Frontex is also involved in the pushbacks

The EU Commission itself is under pressure on the matter.

Officials from the European border protection agency Frontex, including German federal police officers, are involved in the pushbacks.

They stop the refugee boats before they reach European soil and hand them over to the Greek coast guard.

The agency's director, Fabrice Leggeri from France, claims to have acted correctly to this day.

Research by SPIEGEL, however, showed that he purposely covered up the pushbacks.

The Greek coast guard pulls refugees on an inflatable life raft towards Turkey and cuts the rope (read the entire research here)

The pushbacks violate international law - among other things because those seeking protection are not granted access to an asylum procedure.

The operations also endanger the lives of the refugees.

There is concern in Brussels about human rights violations.

The control mechanism is primarily a project by Commissioner Johansson.

She wants to ensure that human rights violations at EU borders are at least independently investigated.

So far this has not been the case in Greece, for example.

The pushbacks are simply hushed up - and thus increasingly also on a question of the rule of law in the EU.

Tineke Strik, rapporteur for the Frontex review group in the EU Parliament, welcomes the move by the EU Commission.

"We have long been pushing for EU financial support to be made dependent on the rule of law by the border guards," she says.

"This is a first step in the right direction."

Athens wants to use Afghans as leverage

The Greek government now wants to convince the EU Commission to continue to finance the pushbacks indirectly.

She hopes that the images of Afghans fleeing will lead to a change of heart.

In Athens it is emphasized that the new tactics of "aggressive surveillance" alone are responsible for the fact that now hardly any refugees cross the eastern Mediterranean.

Negotiations have been going on behind the scenes since June. Basically, so it is said in Brussels, Greece wants to continue to financially support border management. In the current case, it is only about emergency aid. Some compromise, it is said in Athens, will be found.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-08-29