By N. Bellos
A European Commission spokeswoman on Thursday expressed satisfaction with results of a meeting between representatives of Greece and Germany, in the presence of Community experts, to resolve the issue of stricter passport and border checks ordered by Berlin on passengers arriving at German airports on flights originating in Greece.
The main result from the meeting in Brussels was a German commitment to conduct stepped up checks of passengers arriving from Greece ly onwithin a Schengen area terminal. Previously, passengers, regardless of nationality, were bused to a terminal reserved for passengers arriving from non-Schengen Pact members, such as Turkey and Egypt.
Spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said the EU executive considers that the contacts, in the wake of press coverage and negative reactions in Athens, were productive.
According to reports, the German side also promised that such checks will be restricted to confirming the identity and photograph of the holder of a passport or travel documents.
Bertaud said the Greek side, conversely, promised that authorities at airports in the country will intensify checks on passengers headed to German airports.
She also reminded that Berlin had previously notified Brussels on Nov. 12 that it was extending the application a Schengen article allowing a member-state to implement temporary checks on land and sea borders – with other Schengen states – for internal security reasons.
German authorities this week revealed that sample checks over the past month on passengers arriving from Greek destinations showed an high instances of third country nationals trying to enter Germany with forged passports and travel documents.
