German politicians slam Greece over refugee crisis

Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and a senior Bavarian politician have criticised Greece’s role in Europe’s biggest migration crisis since the Second World War.

Schaeuble, who has clashed repeatedly with Greek officials this year, over economic policy, told Bild am Sonntag that Athens has for years ignored the rules that oblige migrants to file for asylum in the first European Union country to which they arrive. He said German courts had decided that refugees were not being treated humanely in Greece and could not be sent back there. “The Greeks should not put the blame for their problems only on others, they should also see how they can do better themselves,” Schaeuble said.

Greece, a main gateway to Europe for migrants crossing the Aegean sea, has faced criticism from other EU governments, who say it has done little to manage the flow of hundreds of thousands of people arriving on its shores.