The Minister of State, Makis Voridis, spoke about immigration, Turkey and the re-election of Androulakis.
“The question of immigration is a question of first receiving countries. What do they come and say? They come to you, you are the first country to accept them, so we don’t care if they are illegal or eligible for asylum, even if they are eligible for asylum you keep them. This certainly creates enormous pressure of migration flows in Greece, in our country, in Italy, to a certain extent, not insignificantly, in Spain. That is to say, in the countries from which they are the classic gateways”, emphasized Mr. Voridis, speaking to ERT and added:
“Migration pressures are increasing. They are already increased and we have a concern that they may increase. We think it won’t go that bad, but it might and we should prepare for it. So what will the prime minister propose? Two things. First, one that was not at all self-evident until yesterday and this concerns all European countries. That there is a need for effective guarding of European borders. I say this because there are powers that have an open border policy. All are welcome, let’s all come in and just sort of manage them. These other forces seem to see Mr. Orban as their natural ally. This bloc of powers represents precisely the perception that Greece should become a kind of prison for all immigrants who come and who enter in any way, so that they stay on its soil.”
“It is a fair, strict but rational immigration policy, which we support. Why we say: First, really effective border guarding. So what? So a fence and therefore a stoppage of migratory flows at sea and therefore effective guarding? What do we want here? It should not only be a national issue, but also a European issue. The second thing we’re saying is that because it’s practically impossible to fully control migration flows, we’re saying there should be a process where once someone is recognized as a refugee, they can’t all stay in one point. That is where there is now the opposition of both Germany and Hungary to the Pact on Migration, as well as the Netherlands,” the minister emphasized.
To a question about why the government in the last few hours is raising the gauntlet to the parties to the right of the New Democracy, he answered: “We are not facing anyone in particular. We are faced with positions, which appear as supposedly patriotic and effective and in reality are just populist and in some other cases where the national interest is sacrificed in order to advance political-ideological alliances”.
Mr. Voridis emphasized that the prime minister is fighting to be able to have an effective management policy, which places immigration in a rational European framework, restrictive, but rational. “And we hear from the other side that you know, I have a very nice alliance here, which alliance tells you what? He tells you keep them all and you from coming to me. They entered you, let them stay in you.”
Regarding Turkey, Mr. Voridis stated that there is a more general framework and this more general framework is the dialogue. “I don’t know if there are voices that say we shouldn’t discuss with Turkey at all. If there are such voices, let someone raise their hand to say so. Because what we are saying is that it does not mean that because we are discussing, we have agreed. Second, there are some tangible advantages to dialogue. The fact that at the moment, the largest volume of migration flows comes mainly from the countries of North Africa, with main gateways, if you like Crete or some islands of the South Aegean, but not from Turkey, the fact that the Turkey has currently closed its borders and has significantly reduced immigration flows, it is a result of the dialogue. The fact that, for example, we no longer have violations of our airspace is a result of dialogue. So there are concrete practical elements of dialogue. There are also positives in the so-called soft agenda, i.e. the fact that tourist flows and communication on the islands have increased significantly, which is important for our islanders and also for the national economy. So there are some positives here, which are concrete and tangible from the dialogue. Our national position has not moved in the slightest on the basic issues, which is the only difference we have to discuss with Turkey. In all the rest, everyone keeps their positions.”
Regarding the re-election of Nikos Androulakis, he emphasized: “The internal process in PASOK ended with the re-election of Mr. Androulakis, therefore, PASOK as a third political force, as it was recorded in the last elections and as it is portrayed in the Parliament at the moment, has its leader, the re-election of their leader, Mr. Androulakis, and therefore begins a political life with a leader who has been re-elected and the internal process has been closed. On the other hand, in SYRIZA, which is the official opposition at the moment, there is still a situation of, let’s say, transitional presidents, the institutional prestige of the specific leadership is diminished by the fact that this pending situation exists. Once this backlog is settled, obviously the official opposition will be further legitimized. So the call is made only within and strictly within the institutional framework. We do not have any “preference” or any interference in the internal party processes of other parties.
“I think the actions of Mr. Androulakis have been approved and I imagine that Mr. Androulakis, since he has approval of his actions, will continue to exercise the opposition in the way he has been exercising it until now. The only thing that now exists as an issue, which should somehow emerge and with which PASOK will face and will face soon: The opposition style is everyone’s choice and their right. His stance on major government initiatives is obviously being evaluated. There is a third issue, which is more demanding and that is that for certain decisions the rules of the Parliament and our Constitution require increased majorities and therefore some kind of agreement of the political forces”.
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