Head of German diplomacy asks Athens to respect “European values at borders

Europe must “be able to guarantee that human rights are well respected on the European external border”, argued Annalena Baerbock, Thursday, from Athens.

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Refugees of refugees at the external borders of the European Union (EU) are “incompatible with European law. (…) If we look away, our European values ​​will flow into the Mediterranean”. Since Athens, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, has sent a clear message to the Greek government, accused since March 2020 of having implemented a systematic policy of “Pushbacks” (repression), practices contrary to international law which consists To prevent migrants from submitting an asylum application in Greece and returning them violently to Turkey.

Only a few hours after the publication of the world survey, Der Spiegel and Lighthouse Reports accusing the European Frontx Protection Agency to have covered the actions of the Greek coast guard, the head of diplomacy German called for clarification and refused to meet the Greek port police, report several Greek media. “M me baerbock only wanted to speak with the representatives of Frontex in Greece”, confirms a spokesperson for the Greek coast guards.

The head of German diplomacy had heard from the experience of MEPs of the Civil Libertés, Justice and Internal Affairs Commission (Libe) who had been entitled, in November 2021, during their visit to Greece, to A briefing oriented by the Greek coast guard? “In the coast guard headquarters at the port of Piraeus [in Athens], documents had been prepared for members of the European Parliament in order to counter any questions about the repressions of migrants. The rhetoric of the coast guard was clearly anti-Long And affirmed that the allegations of Pushbacks were the fact of actors wanting to broadcast Turkish propaganda to harm the image of Greece, “explains a European source who participated in this closed-door meeting.

On the documents of this meeting, we could read: “Fundamental rights have become instruments used by criminal networks”, “NGOs do not cooperate and annoy the work of coast guard”. During her passage on the island of Samos, the German MP Cornelia Ernst, had, at the time, said that she had been in contact with five asylum seekers who escaped a repression. Patrick Wieland, head of mission of doctors Without borders in Samos, who had warned the MEP of recurring “Pushbacks” practices carried out by the Greek Coasts, had to leave his post after having undergone multiple pressures.

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/Media reports.