Athens seeks EU funds to increase its 40km metal border wall to 120km with development work as a consequence of begin later this yr.
Greece has introduced its plan to triple the size of a wall alongside the nation’s border with Turkey, looking for European Union monetary help for the extra development.
Notis Mitarachi, the migration affairs minister, stated the metal wall could be prolonged from 40 to 120km (25 to 75 miles), with development work as a consequence of begin later this yr.
“It’s a authorities determination to increase the border wall additional and we’ve requested European funding,” Mitarachi stated, talking in an interview on Sunday with a radio station close to Athens.
The minister posted the audio of the interview on social media on Monday. He gave no particulars on the projected value of the venture.
Greece has accused neighbour and fellow-NATO ally Turkey of “instrumentalising” migration as a method of exerting strain on EU nations.
That’s an assertion rejected by Ankara, which says it has shouldered a disproportionately heavy burden, internet hosting about 4 million refugees, most of whom fled the civil warfare in neighbouring Syria.
Border wall funds
Final yr, 12 nations, together with Greece, requested EU funding for border partitions, that are presently financed by nationwide budgets.
The EU Fee doesn’t presently pay for wall development at its exterior borders, arguing that it will drain funds from different migration-related actions, together with financing the EU border safety company, Frontex.
Greece and Turkey have strained relations over a slew of points, together with competing maritime boundary claims that have an effect on vitality exploration rights within the jap Mediterranean.
Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas within the Mediterranean Sea the place Greece and Cyprus declare their very own unique financial zone, resulting in a naval standoff.
Final week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated he would cease speaking to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cancel a key assembly between their two governments, accusing the Greek chief of antagonising Turkey.
