Outspoken Greek DM Panos Kammenos on Monday called the resurgent issue of illegal immigration via the Mediterranean a “matter of defence” for the European Union.

Speaking to the public broadcaster after the conclusion of a European Council meeting the EU Defence ministers in Brussels, he said that “what we Greeks observed awhile back, and for which we were negatively viewed by European media, is that amongst those real refugees – and there are very many – terrorists can and may have been smuggled towards Europe via Greece. This affects all of the EU. Measures should have been instituted; this is what the NATO Gen-Sec acknowledged.”

He said that Athens will continue to support the EU’s search and rescue missions, as it should, but will also attempt to block the entrance of extremist elements that want to cause problems in the wider region. He also referred to recent provocations recorded in the Balkans, without going into detail.

The meeting in Brussels touched the EUNAVFOR Med initiative to disrupt migrant smugglers’ networks and means via military action.

Kammenos is the leader of the rightist-populist Independent Greeks’ (AN.EL) party, the junior partner in the otherwise leftist SYRIZA government.