STATEMENT OF ALT. MINISTER CHRISTODOULOPOULOU AFTER THE INTER-MINISTERIAL MEETING FOR MIGRATION WITH COMMISSIONER AVRAMOPOULOS
At the end of the inter-ministerial meeting between the European Commissioner for Immigration Dimitris Avramopoulos and the competent authorities for immigration and refugee flows, held on Tuesday May 26, alt. minister for Immigration Policy, Tasia Christodoulopoulou, made the following statement:
“Today we had the opportunity to present Commissioner Avramopoulos with Greece´s immediate needs and priorities on immigration policy. I am pleased that for the first time, the EU has is becoming conscious of the situation that Greece is facing due to the weak management of constantly increasing migrant flows. I also welcome that for the first time, albeit timidly, and after pressure from our country, we see plans on the relocation of asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants within the EU, something which until recently was out of discussion in EU institutions.
We are facing great difficulties in accommodating the immigrants and refugees that arrive on our shores. It is a fact that today we have to manage a crisis within the crisis. A situation where refugee and immigration flows surpass all previous numbers recorded in our region, at a time when Greece is anyway stretched to the limits. This is a situation that is not going to stop.
Since the creation of the alt. ministry for Migration Policy, a couple of months ago, we are fighting tooth and nail so that we can adequately manage a situation rife with insurmountable difficulties. Difficulties arising from a combination of factors: the increase of migrant flows and as well as the previous government’s delay in absorbing allocated EU funds. Ever since I took over the ministry, even before the Services for Asylum and First Reception were placed under my authority, I felt that we have a moral obligation to do all that is humanly possible in order to ensure two things: Firstly, that refugees and immigrants have a least their basic human needs met. Secondly, that the burden of this issue is not passed on to the already beleaguered Greeks. For this reason we do everything we can, so that the concerns of our fellow citizens, both on the islands as well as in Athens, are taken into account.
In order to implement this policy however, we need services that can cope with this emergency situation. This is why today we struggle to staff the Asylum Service, accelerating the recruitment procedure to the administratively feasible. Most importantly, we need funds to cover the huge financing gap we received. For this reason, we have exhausted all financing possibilities from regular and emergency EU funds and we expect the first disbursements within the summer.”
