Dimitris Avramopoulos

The EU piled pressure on Greece on Feb. 11 over Europe's migrant crisis, telling Athens to improve conditions for refugees and to shore up its borders or risk a suspension of the bloc's passport-free zone.

European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, is to visit the Bulgarian town of Elhovo located close to the border with Turkey on Thursday.

Avramopoulos will inspect the measures applied by Bulgaria in guarding its borders and will assess Bulgarian efforts in managing the migrant flows.

“We should be clear that no country is being threatened with suspension from Schengen,” European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos on Friday said in an interview with EurActiv.

Following a positive opinion by the Schengen evaluation committee on Friday, the College of Commissioners has today adopted the Schengen Evaluation Report on Greece and a proposal for a Council Recommendation on addressing the serious deficiencies identified in the evaluation report on the application of Schengen rules in the field of management of the external borders by Greece.

The issue of ‘evicting’ any member-state from the Schengen area was neither raised nor discussed, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Friday speaking at the Economist’s ‘The World in 2016 Gala Dinner’ in Athens.

Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Wednesday the draft Schengen evaluation report on Greece “showed serious deficiencies” but that the situation has started to improve, following the discussion of the report by the College of Commissioners in Brussels.

European Commission Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud says that there is no discussion concerning Greece leaving the Schengen Zone.

EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos on Thursday expressed EU’s determination to deal effectively with terror attacks addressing the European Parliament plenary, in Strasbourg, on terror issues.

“2015 was a turning point in the way Europe experienced terrorism,” he stated pointing out that the terror threat in EU is very high.

Hotspots in Greece and Italy will be ready in four weeks the latest, European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and member of ND Dimitris Avramopoulos at his office in the Greek Parliament on Sunday at 20.30 to discuss the refugee crisis.