Greece urges European Union to assist in extending border wall to stop migrant influx

Amid the Poland-Belarus border crisis, Greece has recently stated that it would repeat its request for the European Union (EU) fund in 2022 to construct a border wall across its boundary with Turkey, as well as expand a robust monitoring network focused at preventing illegal migrants from entering the nation. The government of Greece has intensified the nation's migration policies, and a 26-kilometre expansion of a steel border wall was recently finished, bringing the total length of the barrier to nearly 38 kilometres, AP reported. 

Takis Theodorikakos, Greece's minister of public order, told a parliamentary committee that certain EU bordering nations will continue to use migration as political pressure on EU member states, noting the current conflict in Belarus on its frontier with Poland and other EU members. Further, highlighting the fact that border barriers and fences are often paid by national governments, Theodorikakos said, “We believe the security on our own borders is linked to the security of the EU,” AP reported.  

Facilities in the newly built border wall

The minister went on to say that a control facility processing data which will be located in the newly-built border monitoring towers will be equipped with long-range cameras and various sensors will start operating in 2022. Further, the artificial intelligence-driven technology is designed to track several occurrences employing data from surveillance sensors and will alert border guard agents to the ones that are the most critical. This automated technology will provide the nation with several operational benefits and would assist in monitoring the whole border region, the minister stated. 

As per media reports, earlier in the month of August, Greece announced the completion of a 40-kilometre border wall with Turkey, as well as the installation of a monitoring system, to deter potential asylum seekers from attempting to enter Europe following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. The Greek administration had already stated that it would not allow migrants to enter Europe and that they will be turned away. 

Furthermore, over the course of eight months this year, the barrier and monitoring network-assisted to stop over 143,000 unlawful crossing efforts on the Greek-Turkish land border, which is a 45% growth from the previous year. In addition to this, human rights and migrant advocacy organisations have claimed that the border arrests involve illegal expulsions known as pushbacks, which the government opposes. 

Image: @TakisTheodorikakos/ Facebook/ AP