Greece’s major opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he was upset that Greeks – including him – were being pulled out of line and having passports checked when they land at German airports, a practice being helped by Greece’s government.
Mitsotakis, leader of the New Democracy Conservatives, said he and fellow passengers from Greece were put under severe scrutiny just because they were Greeks as Germany continued screening even though both countries are part of the Schengen agreement allowing free travel between European Union countries.
“I felt humiliated as a Greek when I was taken into a different terminal and waited for 20 minutes to have my passport checked,” Mitsotakis told an event at the Bruegel think-tank in Brussels on Responsibility to Reform Europe.
There was no immediate complaint from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose Radical Left SYRIZA has fallen out of favor after he kept reneging on anti-austerity promises, leading to New Democracy taking leads up to 17 percent in polls.
Other Greeks traveling to Germany said they have been forced to even wait outside in the cold for long periods of time as Berlin continued to defend the action after being fearful of bogus passports from Greece, which have rigid biometric details.
Those detained said they are facing delays in their travel plans while either planning to be in Germany or making connections to other flights.
Germany tightened security at its airports last month after reportedly intercepting more than 1,000 passengers from Greece between January and October who were traveling with forged identity documents, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry.
Not only has Greece not complained, but Tsipras has sent Greek police to German airports to have them check their fellow countrymen and women there.
The detention came as the European Parliament named one of its chambers Mitsotakis’ father and former Greek Premier Constantine Mitsotakis where the head of the European People’s |Party Winfred Weber called the late Greek leader a “great politician who dedicated his life to Greece and to Europe.” “It was an honor to be at the inauguration,” Weber said.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
