The European Union has given Greece a three-month ultimatum to fix “deficiencies” in controlling its borders or face suspension from the Schengen passport-free zone.
The European Council adopted Friday a document with a number of recommendations as remedial actions that Greece needs to take, including registration procedures, sea border surveillance, border check procedures, risk analyses, human resources and training, infrastructure and equipment and international cooperation.
A report adopted earlier this month by the European Commission, the EU executive body, found that Greece was not doing enough to prevent the unprecedented influx of migrant and refugees crossing into its territory before reaching their desired destination countries in northern Europe.
Europe's Schengen area guarantees passport-free movement to citizens of 26 European countries and to many non-EU nationals, businessmen, tourists or other people in the EU.
Some European countries have imposed temporary border controls to stem the flow of people into their territories.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday that an estimated 83,201 migrants arrived in Europe this year and 77,303 of those landed on the Greek islands traveling by sea from Turkey.
According to IOM, more than 850,000 migrants arrived in Greece last year.
