Up to Greece to investigate ‘black website’, EU says

Sallie Anderson

The European Commission will not check out discoveries Greece was operating a black website for asylum applicants.

It likewise will not pass any instant judgement on a Greek governmental decree to suspend asylum claims for a month and press individuals back throughout the Turkish border.

Rather, it informed press reporters in Brussels on Wednesday (11 March) its technique was to talk about the problems with Greek authorities.

“I cannot comment on why the commission has not done this or that on this particular situation,” stated Adalbert Jahnz, a European Commission representative, when pushed.

Disingenuous and afraid

However that position has actually riled human rights protectors.

Amongst them was the Brussels-based European Council on Refugees and Exiles (Ecre), an NGO.

“It is cowardly and disingenuous of the commission to say it cannot comment,” Ecre’s secretary-general Catherine Woollard informed this website in an e-mail.

She stated the commission was not being asked to presume the role of a court, however was rather being asked to satisfy its role as guardian of the EU treaties.

“The commission’s response reflects the political choices of its leadership,” she added, keeping in mind that the commission might threaten or take to act.

These consist of violation treatments, Post 7 treatments, and steps readily available on the Typical European Asylum System, she mentioned.

“Finally, what is concerning is not only the absence of condemnation but also the apparent approval and risk of complicity in Greece’s response,” she added.

Investigate yourself

When It Comes To the Greek black website, the European Commission stated it was up to the Greek authorities to investigate themselves when it comes to the New York Times revelations.

“It is for the national authorities to investigate and to follow up,” stated the commission representative.

The media expose says Greece has actually been shuffling individuals, consisting of children and women, into a centre near a Greek border town with Turkey.

They are apparently held with no possibility to claim asylum and after that returned to Turkey.

The commission says member states have to regard essential rights and European law when it comes to asylum however would not comment particularly on the black website discovery.

Rather, it appeared to dither on Greek offenses more than a week after Turkey opened its borders to migrants and asylum applicants.

Combined messages

On The Other Hand, the EU presidency under Croatia says the scenario on the Bulgarian and greek land border with Turkey is now under control.

“There is no increase in the number of illegal border crossings,” Croatia’s foreign affairs minister Nikolina Brnjac informed MEPs on Tuesday.

For its part, the European Commission still preserved the scenario on the Greek Turkey border is extraordinary and unmatched.

“We are faced with an urgent and serious situation at our external borders,” home affairs commissioner Vlya Johansson informed MEPs right away after Brnjac’s speech.

Continued the problem of offenses, Eric Mamer, the European Commission’s primary representative, pointed out treatments.

“There are many issues of European law where one of the steps in a process to solve an issue is initial contact with the national authorities,” he stated.

That preliminary contact will not happen up until Thursday, more than a week after Greece revealed its governmental decree.

Johansson is set to resolve the reported offenses in Athens. Asked if she likewise means to go to the Greek black website, Mamer did not react.

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