Greece moves to curb illegal immigration

12/06/2009

ATHENS, Greece -- The government decided on Thursday (June 11th) that trafficking illegal immigrants will be considered a crime. At a session chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, the cabinet agreed to establish special detention centres to house illegal immigrants for up to a year, rather than the current three-month limit. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos says Karamanlis will seek discussion regarding the matter at the EU summit next week. His main requests will be in two-fold -- agreements with third countries for the repatriation of illegal immigrants, and obliging countries that have already signed such agreements to observe them. The opposition Communist Party of Greece compares the proposed new centres to "concentration camps".

In other news Thursday, police in northern Greece arrested a group of 13 people suspected of counterfeiting credit cards and IDs that they allegedly used to withdraw money from big banks in Europe and the United States. Two Macedonians, two Bulgarians, one Georgian and one Greek are among the arrested. The fraud resulted in losses of 570,000 euros. (Nafthemporiki, Eleftherotypia, Ta Nea, Kathimerini, Eleftheros Typos - 12/06/09; AP, DPA, MIA, BTA - 11/06/09)