New IDs to be issued under security deal with US
Greece’s compliance with the terms of a memorandum it signed with US on security and terrorism will be evaluated in February, the Citizens’ Protection Ministry has said.
According to a new agreement, which essentially validated and updated an earlier one from 2009, Greek identity cards will soon be replaced by more secure biometric ones.
Any delays in the issuing of the new IDs could jeopardize Greece’s membership in Washington’s visa waiver program, which provides visa-free travel to the citizens of 38 countries.
Apart from new IDs, the agreement stipulates the exchange of intelligence on terror suspects and provides US authorities with access to information on migrants registered in the eastern Aegean.
“We had to adapt the initial agreement to the new facts, meaning the migration crisis and the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters,’” a high-ranking ministry official told Kathimerini.
