Experts Propose Measures To Close Greek-Macedonian Border

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German and Austrian experts are working on a plan to close the border between Greece and Macedonia, through which a large portion of refugees arrived in the European Union, and to secure it against future trespass.

German tabloid Bild reports that experts from Berlin, Brussels, and Vienna wish to install monitoring systems along the border. In conjunction with this, Frontex, the EU border control agency, will increase its presence in the Balkans to sort through refugees and divide them into two groups – political and economic.

For the plan to work, a refugee “megacamp” would need to be set up in Greece. The camp would operate as European refugee distribution centre, where they would be housed during the course of the refugee application process. From there, individuals would be allocated to different European countries, or alternatively, deported if their applications are found to be without merit.

Some 320 billion euros would need to be allocated to Greece for the creation and maintenance of the camp.

Asylum seekers who arrive in Greece from several countries, among them Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, would be be immediately denied refugee status and deported to their countries of origin.

Well more than one million refugees, more than a million and half according to some estimates, have arrived in Europe in 2015, many fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq. Many, however, have arrived as economic migrants, trying to camouflage themselves among the refugees. European authorities have struggled to cope with the influx, with sorting, asylum applications, and housing of refugees not being handled in a timely or effective manner.