Greece ready to handle refugee crisis, wants EU decisions respected, gov’t spokeswoman says
Greece said on Tuesday that it was ready to handle increased migrant flows but wanted decisions taken by EU leaders last week to protect the passport-free travel Schengen zone to be respected by all members.
"The Greek government is ready to handle any kind of situation that might occur due to increased migrant flows, no matter how difficult this could be," government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili told a regular news briefing.
Some Balkan states have tightened passage controls on their borders, resulting in hundreds of migrants been trapped in Greece and raising concerns that the situation could worsen as flows to the country from Turkey continued.
Referring to a move by Austria to call a meeting of Balkan states on the migrant crisis this week without including Greece, Gerovasili said: "The European Union should now allow and should not tolerate some member states do as they want on their own." [Reuters]
