Train connections between Greece and Macedonia have been blocked for days by Iranian migrants who are occupying the railway tracks in protest at being stranded.
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A refugee has been electrocuted to death at the Greek-Macedonian border during the second day of clashes between police and refugees in the area.
Reports say a group of Moroccan men then carried the burnt body and rushed toward the frontier, prompting police to fire tear gas and push them back.
About accusations that Greece resembled an “unfenced vineyard”, the deputy minister said that land borders were being managed but “since the refugees enter through the sea borders on a boat, the only option for us is to rescue them”.
The Greek government was trying to persuade the strandedmigrantsto go back to Athens and apply for asylum inGreece Greek Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas has said according to Reuters.
“I think it was constructive and we made progress”, he said, condemning those who spoke of barring Greece, or of a “mini-Schengen” in the north, for destroying the “spirit” of Europe.
Approximately 5,000 people are stranded in Idomeni over the past two weeks, as Macedonian authorities start erecting a fence and closing the border to economic migrants, allowing only Syrians and Afghans to continue their journey to other European countries.
Aleksandar Vucic said at the opening Thursday of a ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that the meeting should come up with joint conclusions and recommendations.
“Some countries want to defend themselves against their bad migration policy by reinstating border controls”, Hungary’s prime minster Viktor Orban commented on Friday morning on state radio.
European Commission President Juncker asked the Director General for the Structural Reform Support Service to follow this process very closely and the Commission’s teams have been working hand in hand with the Greek authorities for months.
Sensitive to suggestions Greece was losing sovereignty on its territory, a government spokeswoman stressed Frontex would only work on registration of people not documented further south and not take part in “joint border controls”.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Reuters: “It was said because of (Greece’s) reluctance to protect the border”.
German officials noted that the existing Schengen Borders Code provides for recommendations to member states that they request help from the European Union “in the case of serious deficiencies relating to external border control”.
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“That’s something we must avoid at all costs and it’s why, until Friday, we still have… a few days to show that Greece is making progress”, the veteran European Union negotiator said, insisting he had put no “pressure” on officials in Athens on Monday.
