EU crisis: Germany to ‘increase controls’ at the border following influx of refugees
GERMAN politicians are preparing enhanced border controls following the influx of refugees to Greece.
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Greek police have struggled to cope with the large number of refugees descending on the country after Turkey said EU borders would now be open. Greece has said it has more than 25,000 people trying to enter the country and has arrested a further 220 so far.
With the crisis worsening, an MP for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, Mathias Middelberg has now claimed extra controls will be necessary.
He said: “Nationally, we have to prepare for increased controls and also for rejections at our own borders.”
He also accused Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a “breach of contract”.
Mr Erdogan announced on Saturday that Turkey has opened its border to the EU, leading to many refugees from the Syrian Civil War attempting to enter the bloc.
Echoing Mr Middelberg, Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister, Boris Pistorius called for immediate support for Greece.
He also said the EU could not allow large groups of people to cross the external border.
He added: “We cannot allow hundreds of thousands of people to come to us again across Europe’s external borders.”
Mr Erdogan made the decision to release the refugees after claiming his country could no longer cope with the amount of people escaping the conflict in Syria.
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Specifically, Turkey has claimed it cannot hold the waves of people entering to escape from Syrian and Russian airstrikes.
The Turkish President said: “We will not close these doors in the coming period and this will continue.
“Why? The European Union needs to keep its promises.
“We are not obliged to look after and feed so many refugees.
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Turkey has an estimated 3.7 million refugees from the conflict in Syria.
Following the migrant crisis in 2015, Turkey did sign a deal with the EU to stop more migrants heading into Greece.
The EU had offered Turkey more aid to deal with the crisis but that did not deter Mr Erdogan from opening the border.
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Mr Erdogan also claimed the decision to open the border to Greece was “fully” in line with international law.
Turkey’s President also attacked Greece over its “inhumane scenes” after video emerged of the treatment refugees had received.
In retaliation, Greece has accused Turkey of housing the refugees as political pawns.
The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece would not be blackmailed over the matter.
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg.