GREECE-MIGRANTS Greece asks for urgent financial help as migrants from conflict zones swarm across sea borders

Record ID: 348795

  • Title: GREECE-MIGRANTS Greece asks for urgent financial help as migrants from conflict zones swarm across sea borders
  • Date: 4th September 2014
  • Summary: SCREEN SHOWING MAP OF AEGEAN SEA BETWEEN GREECE AND TURKEY AND THE MOVEMENT OF SHIPS IN THE REGION
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAWZ7K48OVA60LXW7JKFHEX8KT
  • Story Text: The number of illegal migrants from conflict zones flooding Greece's sea borders have reached crisis levels that the country's coast guards are unable to handle, the country's shipping minister said on Thursday (September 4), and there is information that another million migrants are still waiting to cross to Greece from Turkey.
    Shipping and Marine Affairs Minister Miltiades Varvitsiotis appealed to the European Union for more funding for coast guard operations, saying if the problem continues it will pose risks both for the country and for the lives of the migrants.
    "Definitely due to the budget limitations that we are having, and the limited resources, and the lack of great support from the European Union, I think we are getting in a danger zone where we are going to be limited in this operation," Varvitsiotis told reporters. "The risks at sea - with the increase of the incidents and also the increase of the numbers of migrants crossing - are also increasing, and this is a great danger, this is a great danger and a serious danger for loss of lives at sea," he said.
    The European Union has given Greece some 70 million euros since 2007 for the acquisition of coast guard equipment, but Varvitsiotis says the country needs an additional 63 million for operational costs.
    Frontex, the European Union border assistance agency, provides a yearly contribution of some 2.8 million euros, but to run the coast guard operation for just one month costs 5.2 million euros. Varvitsiotis said staff and resources are completely stretched and it is estimated that due to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Syria, by the end of the year more than 30,000 migrants will try to reach Greece.
    "We have requested (from) the European Commission for extra funding in order to meet the increased challenges. Still we are in a process of trying to get extra funds, but unfortunately until now our requests have not been met." he said.
    In 2012, more than 3,000 migrants were apprehended at the country's sea borders. That number skyrocketed to more than 10,000 in 2013 - an increase of 214 percent, and it reached more than 17,000 in 2014. In August 2014 alone, more than 6,000 migrants were apprehended, compared to just 926 the same month last year.
    More than 50 percent are from Syria, while others include Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
    Many of the migrants cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey, and coast guard officials have information that some one million illegal migrants are still currently waiting in Turkey to cross to Europe, said Varvitsiotis.

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