Greek EU Exit Would Pose Major Security Risks: Experts

Greek EU Exit Would Pose Major Security Risks: Experts : Discovery News
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As a key security partner for the West and the prime route for migrants arriving in Europe, Greece
poses a threat to more than the financial stability of the continent if its crisis deepens.

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All eyes this week are on whether Athens will finally reach an agreement www.sr22coverage.com
with its creditors and save its financial system from collapse.
But experts warn a potential Greek exit from the eurozone -- "Grexit" -- poses broader security
threats.
What the World Owes Greece
The first, immediate concern is the ever-increasing flood of migrants trying to get into Europe.
Greece recently overtook Italy as the leading point of entry with more than 48,000 illegal border
crossings there from January to May, according to the EU's Frontex agency.
"If Greece is substantially weakened, it will no longer be able to manage its responsibilities in an
effective way," said Thanos Dokos, head of the non-profit Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy in Athens.
"There is already a shortage of fuel for coastguards, and no prospect of modernising equipment.
"We can imagine how these things will worsen after a Grexit, with much less funds for controlling
borders or intercepting suspicious persons, which is already difficult."
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Russian influence?
Greece's future matters to the West in a more general sense thanks to its location on Europe's
southeastern flank -- a position that has made it a vital asset since it joined NATO in the 1950s.

The US has carte blanche at the Souda military base on the island of Crete, using it for intelligencegathering and as a launch-pad for operations throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean.
It used a string of other Greek bases for air strikes against Libya in 2011.
Military Exercises: What Are They?
That contrasts with neighboring Turkey, which has increasingly put restrictions on the car insurance
ri US air force base in Incirlik in the south of the country.
"Greece is the only country in the region that has been in the EU since the 80s and in NATO since
the 50s," former Greek army chief Christos Manolas told the EU Observer online newspaper
recently.
"It is a security provider rather than a security consumer."
Although NATO is unlikely to lose the use of bases any time soon, the prospect of Greece falling out
of the eurozone, tumbling into even deeper economic crisis and growing ever-more alienated from
its Western allies has jangled nerves on both sides of the Atlantic.