Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is asking the European Union for financial support to extend his country’s anti-migrant steel fence along the border with Turkey.
“I think it’s about time for the EU to seriously consider providing European funds for these types of projects,” Mitsotakis told news agency AFP Friday on the sidelines of a visit to the wall in northeastern Greece.
In a first step, Athens plans to extend its fence — which runs along the Evros River along the shared border with Turkey — by 35 kilometers, with the aim of adding a total of 100 kilometers by 2026. It is currently five meters high and 37.5 kilometers long.
The question of whether EU member countries’ border fences should be financed with EU money is hugely controversial within the bloc.
EU leaders in February pledged “significant” funds to bolster cameras and personnel at the frontiers, but stopped short of directly funding wall-building — something a host of countries, spearheaded by Austria, have been pushing for.
On the eve of the February summit, a number of countries, including Greece, backed tougher border measures in a letter. The missive echoed a similar letter from October 2021 that saw 12 member states asking the European Commission to let EU cash go toward border barriers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who opposes EU money to be channeled into wall-building, stressed after the meeting that leaders had only agreed to use EU money for infrastructure like cameras, watch towers and vehicles.
In January, European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson argued there is no money in the EU budget to finance such projects.
But Greece’s Mitsotakis on Friday said that, with its border fence, Greece is “contributing toward European security and we are also contributing towards a more integrated and effective European asylum policy.”
Even without EU funds, the fence extension, which is estimated to cost around €100 million, will go ahead, Mitsotakis said.
“What you see here is an obstacle that the Greek government has built in order to protect the borders of a country which also happens to be the external borders of the European Union,” he said. “I’ve always been a firm believer that we cannot reach a new agreement on migration and asylum unless we protect our external borders.”
