Quelle: Ekathimerini
In the wake of pressure regarding its membership of the Schengen Area, Greece on Thursday activated the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, agreed to allow EU border agency Frontex on its frontier with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and to trigger the Rapid Border Intervention Teams mechanism (RABIT) for extra help with patrols in the Aegean.
The European Commission confirmed Thursday that it received these three requests from Athens. The action came after a number of unnamed EU officials claimed that there were calls for Greece to be excluded from the Schengen free travel area because of complaints about the way it is handling the flow of migrants and refugees and its failure to live up to commitments made at the Western Balkans Route Leaders’ Summit in October.