Greece has 2 weeks to present plan for external border protection

If the EU executive finds that the government has failed to file an adequate plan and implement it by May 12, it will extend existing border checks on travelers from Greece until at least mid-November, helping ensure that migrants trapped there can’t travel further into the bloc.
Under current rules, passport checks within the Schengen area can’t be extended beyond May 12 unless the commission finds a country is failing to guard the bloc’s external border. The checks were introduced on travelers from Greece in September.
“The commission confirms that it will be prepared for this eventuality and would act without delay,” the commission said in a report Tuesday.
In the 10-page document, the commission finds that while Greece has made some progress since its first warning in November, it has still failed to submit concrete timelines, cost estimates and name the authorities responsible for various requirements.
In December, interior ministers from a number of EU countries, including Austria, warned that Greece could be suspended from the Schengen system if it didn’t improve its controls.
Under the EU-Turkey deal, Greece must focus on returning people and stop issuing temporary stay permits to migrants who land on Greek islands that have allowed them to travel onto the mainland and then further north, the commission says.
The report flags poor housing conditions for migrants, particularly families with children and unaccompanied minors, as a major area of concern.
It also says Greece faces significant challenges in running migrants’ fingerprints through EU’s security databases and checking if their passports are valid.
The report says it also remains unclear what Greece plans to do to improve coastal surveillance in the near-term, when those measures are to be implemented and how much they will cost. The commission also wants urgent action by Greece to set up joint patrols with the EU border force Frontex on its northern border with non-EU member Macedonia, where violence has erupted in recent days as thousands of migrants attempted to cross the border.
The Greek government didn’t respond immediately for a request to comment.
In its report, the commission says its scrutiny of Greece isn’t aimed at excluding the country from the Schengen system.
Germany has said it is hoping to lift controls on the Austrian border in mid-May, though an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday that timing “was by no means fixed.” A spokesman for Austria’s interior ministry said on Tuesday the government will definitely seek to maintain its border controls until the problems on the EU borders are fixed.
“Just as long as the protection of the EU external border doesn’t function then it must be the case that we put in place measures inside the Schengen area,” the spokesman added.
Austrian police on Tuesday said they were preparing to reintroduce border checks on the Italian border, because they expect a new influx after the route through the Balkans was cut off.
A European Commission spokeswoman said the executive is “very concerned” about Austria’s plans because the crossing “is essential for the freedom of movement within the European Union.”

source: WSJ