Greece vs. Austria: Non-Friendly Acts

Two days ago we came across a headline at Reuters, informing us that “Greece rages at neighbors as fears migrants could be halted”. Say what? What the hell is this supposed to mean? Is this even English? Possibly Reuters employs the same headline editor as Bloomberg….he or she is definitely equally bad.

Nikos Kotzias (????? ???????), a former member of the Central Committee of the Greek Communist Party. Nowadays, oddly enough, he is Greece’s foreign minister. Here seen enraged.

Photo credit: Simela Pantzartzi

Anyway, we delved into the article to see what it was about. Here are a few pertinent excerpts:

“Greece raged at neighbors and began busing refugees and migrants back from its northern border on Tuesday, after new restrictions by countries on the main land route to Western Europe trapped hundreds behind a bottleneck at the frontier. Athens filed a rare diplomatic protest with fellow EU member Austria for excluding Greek officials from a high-level meeting on measures aimed at curbing Europe’s biggest inward migration since World War Two.

[…]

Austria is due to host west Balkan states on Wednesday to discuss efforts to manage and curb the flow, but did not invite Greece. In unusually heated language that shows how the migration crisis has raised passions across Europe, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias described the snub as a “unilateral and non-friendly act”.

“The exclusion of our country at this meeting is seen as a non-friendly act since it gives the impression that some, in our absence, are expediting decisions which directly concern us.”

[…]

Austria, the last country on the overland route to Germany, said last week it had imposed a daily limit of 3,200 migrants passing through, and 80 asylum claims. Further down, Hungary has said it would shut three railway crossings with Croatia used by migrants, effective Feb. 22. Slovenia has erected a fence on its southern border with Croatia to ensure that migrants can enter only through official border crossings.

“The Balkan route was a humanitarian corridor. It could close after consultations and not by turning one country against the other,” Greek Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas told Skai TV. “We are faced with an action that has elements of a coup.”

Vienna denied it had snubbed Athens by excluding it from Wednesday’s talks. The meeting of West Balkan nations was an established format which had first convened in Austria last year to discuss the issue of Islamist militants, a foreign ministry spokesman said. The meeting includes interior and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.”

Fair enough, we thought. After all, Greece is in quite an unfortunate situation. Not only is it bankrupt, it also happens to be Europe’s major entry point for refugees. If everything had been handled according to current EU legislation, the country would have been forced to accept more than 800,000 asylum seekers – a practical impossibility.

This man deserves a moment of sympathy: Greece’s minister of immigration, Ioannis Mouzalas. Who would want to be Greek migration minister at this juncture? It has to be one of the most thankless political appointments ever.

Photo via analyzegreece.gr

Angry Greeks Strike Back

In the meantime, the situation has escalated further, with Greece recalling its ambassador from Vienna. Quite possibly, to his regret – after all, Vienna has just been ranked “the world’s nicest city”, with Reuters telling its readers that “Austria’s grand capital on the Danube river offers the highest quality of life of all cities in the world.” So let us commiserate with the Greek ambassador as well for a moment.