Greek Ambassador Returns to Vienna After Spat Over Refugees

The Greek ambassador returned to Austria on Wednesday, putting an official end to an acrimonious argument that began after the shut-down of the Balkan route to central Europe for migrants.

Austria was the country that organized the closing of the route in conjunction with Balkan states. The success of the initiative in February left thousands of asylum seekers stranded in Greece.

Athens reacted by pulling Ambassador Chryssoula Aliferi back to Athens in late February.

The March 20 agreement between the European Union and Turkey crisis has eased significantly the illegal migrant flows from the Turkish shores to Greece. Now Athens decided to end the spat with Austria and send back the Greek ambassador.

However, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz warns that Ankara could exploit the agreement to press for concessions the EU may not want to make.

“Even if there is a certain easing, the Turkey deal in particular is something where we have to be careful that we do not fall into dependency” on Ankara, he said at a press conference with Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias. The Greek foreign minister flew into Vienna on an official visit early Wednesday, accompanied by the returning ambassador.

Kurz said that open border policies should end and Europe must focus on financing and organizing aid to front-line states to the Middle East conflict zones. This, he said, could lead EU member states who oppose to quotas because they see no end to the influx to rethink.

“The most important point is reducing the inflow, creating a normal situation,” he said. “I believe that then we will be more capable of acting in the search for a common European solution.”

Kotzias criticized the EU for the lack of unity in developing a common strategy at the outset of the crisis. He also urged the 10,000 or so migrants camped out at Idomeni, in the Greece-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border, to not listen to activists who tell them that the borders will open again.