He appeared troubled the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Nikos Panagiotopoulos for the increased ones migrant flowsalready observed since the end of the previous year and continued throughout 2024
As he mentioned, our system is currently holding up barring a dramatic contingency, such as an even bigger conflagration in Lebanon – which may not be as unforeseen as he noted – and if the conflicts start to become generalized we will have another additional flow to the to the west, through the Mediterranean, Cyprus will be under extreme pressure and Greece and Turkey are also expected to be under pressure.
Underline how the migratory was yesterday’s main topic discussion between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoganand how in the management of migration flows Greece and Turkey both stand to gain if they cooperate. He noted that the fact that there is scope for cooperation can be seen from the results that this cooperation has yielded. On the Evros front, at the land borders, he stated that there are regular meetings at both the staff and operational level by those responsible for guarding the borders of all three countries, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, which are performing. “From the Evros the flows are reduced, barely about 5% down but reduced… The construction of the barriers has limited the entry points,” he said characteristically.
On the islands and the sea, as he stated, there is again a marginal decrease from the Northern Aegean, while the KyT of Lesvos hosts approximately 1,000 people. “This is about an all-time low,” he noted, recalling past times of 15,000 people.
For the incident in Samosemphasized that this shows how dangerous the journey is even if it is short.
“In rough seas the speedboat cannot develop speed and when it does it endangers the lives of the passengers…. Another issue that apparently made the prime minister say that these speedboats will not start, of course, because these boats cannot be hidden when they are transported to the coast,” he said.
He spoke about the criminal organizations that exploit these people, “they take them I imagine they have and don’t have and of course they also put their lives in danger” and pointed out the need for an organized cooperation based on coordination with the Turkish Authorities.
“Certainly this will be done both at the staff level and at the top politician. I imagine that the date for my meeting with my counterpart, with whom we have spoken on the phone and we said that after the meeting of the leaders in New York, will obviously be given the green light for our meeting will be set soon. And from there on we will lay the foundations of this cooperation. And the key element of this foundation is to produce results. That is, to suppress the activity of illegal traffickers which I repeat once again are nothing but criminal organizations that commit criminal activity”, said Mr. Panagiotopoulos.
He emphasized that Frontex is not an observer along the European borders, sea and land, but actively participates in safeguarding the inviolability of these borders. “Of course we can’t have absolute inviolability with this data, but that’s her job.”
Specifically regarding the sudden change in Germany’s stance on immigration, he stated that “we will have increased demands from the participation of Frontex, when one after the other European countries, and not only Germany, signal a tightening of the border control framework” and added :
“We are not talking about border closures, but about increased border controls. Increased controls, I say it again, were during the Euro. Anyone entering Germany to watch football was subject to some such controls. And it makes sense for security reasons, internal. This is the justification that Germany invokes in order to reintroduce strict controls at its borders. Because quite simply, the government now feels a lot of political pressure due to the management of immigration.”
Asked if there are any risks for us from this decision, he replied “not at this stage” and explained that it is not about mass refunds. “We made it clear with the Germans. We saw them with the political leadership of the ministry about ten days ago in Berlin, I was there. It was a very good discussion,” said the minister.
Around 4,000 migrant returns in 2023
Mr. Panagiotopoulos even mentioned that Greece has also made refunds. “Does anyone know that by 2023, over 4,000 illegal immigrants have been returned to their country. This happened because it is foreseen. Anyone who does not get asylum and does not meet the conditions of the law must go back.” He added that those who now come to our islands must first be arrested by the authorities charged with safeguarding the inviolability of our borders, namely the Police and the Coast Guard.
In particular, regarding the Greek-Turkish languages, he emphasized that “of course there is a climate of greater calm and dialogue.” That’s good from having tensions and the fleets coming out and confronting each other.” and added that:
“Certainly Turkey’s claims remain on the table. It certainly and from time to time makes claims that directly affect our sovereign rights. However, the government and the prime minister yesterday still drew red lines in this whole network of claims. And we said that our only difference is the demarcation of the sea zones and the continental shelf.”
Source: skai.gr
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