EU Rejects Greek Migrant Crisis Plan

The European Union has not endorsed a plan proposed by Greece to the EU border agency Frontex to deal with the refugee crisis, local media reported Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Ekathimerini newspaper, citing its own sources, the Hellenic Police and Coast Guard presented a plan, entailing the bolstering of sea and land patrols on the country’s border with Turkey, among other provisions.

The newspaper reported that while Frontex approved the plan, it could not get the 28-nation bloc to endorse it. Despite the lack of EU approval, the agency advised Greece to start implementing the proposal, vowing to cover the cost of transferring Greek police officers to the Turkish border.

Europe has been dealing with an unprecedented migration crisis this year, with Greece particularly hit by the influx of undocumented migrants seeking to flee war and poverty in the Middle East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the UN, as of August 14, as many as 158,456 migrants have arrived in Greece by sea in 2015. The number of those who have entered the country by land through the border with Turkey is estimated at over 1,700.

Earlier this month, EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said the bloc would provide Athens with $33 million, once Greece sets up a special authority to deal with the logistics involved in processing refugee arrivals.