Balkans | Greece: Pulling Frontex will cause you to shoot yourself in the foot

Greece “I think it is inconceivable that they leave our country,” said Kiridis, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum.

The decision of the European Union’s border protection agency Frontex to withdraw from Greece has caused concern in Athens.

This was reflected in the statement of the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Dimitris Kyrides.

If Frontex withdraws from her country, Keridis said, it would be “like shooting you in the foot”.

The Athena-Frontex Controversy

Kyridis responded to Frontex’s criticism of her country on the Hellenic Radio and Television Corporation, after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized in Greece last month.

Kiridis stated that he had received the minutes of the agency’s board meeting, which took place after the migrant disaster off the Peloponnese, and where a discussion was held about Frontex’s presence in Greece.

We want Frontex.

For Frontex to do so, Kiridis stated, was “the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot”. “Without a doubt, we want Frontex to be in Greece. I think it would be unreasonable for them to leave our country.” He said.

Frontex Director: We have informed Greece

Hans Lijtens, Director of Frontex, said that they discovered a capsized fishing boat with illegal immigrants off the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece and reported this to the Greek local authorities, who said:

My colleagues have learned of a fishing boat with 600 people on board bound for Greece, which is probably crowded with human traffickers.

Since it was our duty, we reported the boat to the local authorities. It is very sad that on Wednesday the boat sank and another tragic accident occurred.

Allegations of “negligence of the Greek coast guard”

And it was reported in the Greek media that a migrant who survived the disaster said in his statement to the Public Prosecutor that the boat sank when the Greek Coast Guard teams began to pull it with ropes.

In another immigrant’s statement, “The Greek Coast Guard boat tied a rope to the boat and while towing the boat, the boat started swaying from side to side due to the excessive speed and capsized.” What he said was recorded.

And the Efimerida newspaper published in Greece claimed, in the news that included the statements of the captain of the oil tanker called “The Faithful Warrior”, which exceeded the point of the disaster, that the ship was removed from the scene of the accident by the Coast Guard teams.

The Greek search and rescue center allegedly learned that the overloaded boat was swaying dangerously, and stated that questions should be answered as to why coast guard teams chose to remove the oil tanker instead of calling it to the scene for a possible rescue.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition Alliance of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), visited the port of Kalamata, where the migrants who survived the disaster were taken, to get information about the incident. He said the migrants told him that Greek coast guard teams were trying to push the boat into Italian waters.

Disaster off the coast of Greece

On June 14, a fishing boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized in international waters 47 nautical miles from Navarino, located in the Peloponnese, Greece, killing 82 people, 104 people were rescued and brought to the port of Kalamata.

According to the nonprofit organization Alarm Phone, there were about 700 people on board.