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Greece Agrees to EU Help on Border Control Amid Threats of Suspension from Schengen

eidomfy-thumb-largeGreece asked for help from the European Union to secure its land and sea borders and care for the refugees arriving by the thousands daily, amid threats from suspension from the Schengen Agreement.
Greece has been under pressure from its European allies to be more effective in stemming the migrant flow entering the country and moving towards north Europe. Athens made the move in order to show compliance ahead of Friday’s (today) meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels where the issue will be discussed.
Athens agreed on Thursday to accept European aid and foreign border guards. EU guards will be deployed for Greece’s northern land borders and across the Aegean sea borders. Also, more EU staff will help register arriving migrants and Europe will provide tents and supplies to accommodate migrants who are stranded in Greece.
While denying it had rejected aid and cooperation, the Greek government said on Thursday that it would work with Frontex to register those migrants trapped in the north since the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia raised fences to control the migrant flow.
Athens activated two other assistance programs, namely the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, originally conceived to cope with natural disasters such as earthquakes, and the Rapid Border Intervention Team (RaBIT), implemented by Frontex.
Eastern European country leaders offer help to Greece and support integrity of Schengen Agreement
Eastern European leaders gathered in Prague on Thursday and rejected the idea of downsizing the EU 26-member Schengen zone to include fewer countries in order to better cope with the refugee crisis.
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia called “any open or hidden attempts to limit free movement” inside the EU “unacceptable,” says a Reuters report.
The country leaders started a “Friends of Schengen” initiative aimed at keeping the zone intact and welcomed other nations to join. The four EU members offered help in strengthening the bloc’s external borders, namely in Greece.
This comes as a reply to last week’s comment by Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem who said that Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden might be forced to form a “mini-Schengen” if the bloc fails to solve the migrant crisis.

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