(Reuters) The European Union’s executive called for an investigation on Thursday into illegal migrant pushbacks after a report by German media outlets Der Spiegel and ARD documented what they said were Greek and Croatian officials carrying out such operations.
The joint report said Greek and Croatian special forces sometimes concealed their identity during such operations, which at times were violent.
“Some of these reports are shocking,” the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said, adding that she expected a thorough investigation of the issue.
Johansson was due later on Thursday to meet the Greek and Croatian interior ministers, who are in Brussels for two days of talks with their EU peers, and would urge them to take the matter “very seriously.”
