BRUSSELS -- On Tuesday, a spokesman said that the European Union would not help Greece in financing a 10-kilometer-long fence along its border with Turkey for keeping out illegal immigrants because it was "pointless". On Monday, Greece also said that it would start to build the four-meter-high fence next month and expected to make it done by September at a cost of more than EUR3 million.

The main point of entry for illegal immigrants into the EU and its northern border with Turkey in the Evros region is Greece where there are the most porous external EU borders. The country has accepted financial assistance to support its immigration policy. Michele Cercone as spokesman for EU Home Affairs commissioner Cecilia Malstroem argued that the commission accepted a request [from the Greek government] to co-finance the building on the fence. Commissioner Malstroem has been very clear and the commission has decided not to follow up on the request because it considers it pointless.

Fences and walls were "short-term measures", he said, and that another similar requested from a different EU country two years ago had also been refused. Based on Cercone, Greece has accepted worth of EUR215 million between 2007 and 2010 from the EU for immigration measures, while another EUR90 million would be earmarked for 2012 and have to get budget approval.

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