Migrants who have swamped Greece’s borders illegally are costing Greece up to six billion euros annually, and are now being blamed for adding to the financial crisis that has enveloped Greece and may soon impact on other eurozone nations.

The high cost paid by Greece to manage the migrant population relates to healthcare, crime and impact on legitimate business, said the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Constantine Michalos.

The current crisis in Greece has led to Greece facing two major threats – expulsion from the eurozone and could lead to their exclusion from the Schengen Agreement, an agreement that allows free travel without passports to 25 European nations. As it stands, the nation cannot handle another financial burden.

“The possibility of being excluded or of the gradual freezing of Greece’s participation in Schengen is hanging over us,” the Greek minister responsible for border security, Christos Papoutsis, told the Kathimerini.

Greece hosts around one million illegal immigrants and asylum seekers each year. Last year, 130,000 people were detained for illegally attempting to enter Greece.

Michalos said that the immigrants are adding to the financial pressure Greece is facing and with no money and no documentation, they are prime candidates to work in organised crime.

“In view of the growing unemployment in Greece at the moment, this is the only way that the immigrants can survive,” Mr Michalos said.

“The problem has significantly exaggerated in recent years due to the increase in the numbers of immigrants and worsens because they are ‘trapped’ in Greece and cannot move on to the rest of Europe.”

Most of those detained were from the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan, and because Turkey neighbours with Greece and has free-visa entry, many use the border to gain access to Greece. This prompted then-Greek prime minister George Papandreou to announce earlier this year to the Turkish PM that he would be build an immigrant-proof fence along the common border. This plan has fallen by the wayside with Greece preoccupied with the current debt crisis.

Source: ABC