Athens has been threatened with expulsion from the Schengen area if the violations are not corrected, according to an internal report of the EU, which came to the disposal of Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung (FAS).
The Greek authorities are accused of insufficient control over the maritime border, in particular, near the islands of Chios and Samos. The Commission visited the border crossing points on the islands and recorded the insufficient number of patrol vessels and lack of direct communication with the Turkish Coast Guard. All of this has given free rein to local smugglers, the report said.
When registering refugees, Greeks "forgot" to carry out the compulsory procedure of fingerprinting for the EU migration services, and some scanners were out of order.
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After checking, the EU Commission has concluded that Greece "most seriously" violated its duty to protect the external borders of the EU, so there was a discussion about the possibility of further participation of Greece in the Schengen agreement. After three months, the EU inspectors will again visit Greece in order to determine whether Athens complies with the Schengen rules on its border. If the situation is not changed after this period, Greece may be excluded from the Schengen area for an indefinite period.
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