Athens is preparing to adopt a firm position toward Germany following Berlin’s recent decision to tighten controls on its western land borders, according to local media.
The Greek government remains focused on upholding the Schengen Agreement while strongly advocating for the fair distribution of migration burdens among all EU member states, not just those on the frontlines like Greece.
Greece will push for its stance on the EU Migration Pact, which calls for equitable burden-sharing across the bloc. In this effort, it seeks alliances with countries like Austria, Poland, and particularly those in southern Europe, such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal, which face similar migration challenges due to their location on the EU’s external borders.
According to a government source, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s recent statements from Vienna on migration were not directly aimed at Germany but at countries considering unilateral migration policies that risk undermining EU cohesion.
Berlin’s move to tighten border controls is viewed as a political response to internal pressures, following the electoral decline of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in regional elections in Thuringia and Saxony, with further challenges expected in the state of Brandenburg on September 22. These tensions are expected to persist ahead of Germany's national elections in autumn 2025.
Migration has long been a point of friction between Greece and Germany, with disagreements surfacing multiple times in 2023.
One of Germany's key demands—the return of refugees who were first registered in Greece but now reside in Germany—continues to be rejected by Athens, further complicating relations between the two countries.