Brussels, 18/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Greek Foreign Minister with responsibility for EU affairs, Nikos Xydakis, told EUROPE of the progress made by his country to manage the migration crisis, dismissing the “simple” criticism that has been made, on the eve of the European Summit which, on Thursday 18 February, also tackled this crucial issue for the future of the European Union (interview by Solenn Paulic).
Agence Europe - Greece has come in for harsh criticism over its delays in the implementation of these centres for the registration and identification of migrants (hotspots). Where are you with this at the moment?
Nikos Xydakis - We are nearly there. All of the hotspots are fully operational at the moment (on Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros), only one of them (Kos) is not yet ready, but it will be in a few weeks' time. These centres need to have the capacity to respond to enormous waves of people. This is the first time that an EU country has faced such a situation and has had to set in place an entire protocol of legislation on hosting, registration, the identification of people who are in need of international protection. The number of people is 1,000 times higher than it was in the previous year (flows increased by 1972% between 2015 and 2014, from 41,074 in 2004 to 851,319 in 2015: Ed). What country would be capable of facing such a challenge? Setting the hotspots in place is an enormous amount of work in a very short period of time. Aside from the technical issues, there was a lack of funds.
Do the other member states need to get involved in the relocation process a little more?
Yes, we expect them to do more because if they don't, there is no benefit for anybody. Just 314 people have been relocated from Greece (295, according to the Commission's figures as of 16 February: Ed) and 14 out of 28 member states have made no hosting commitments. There have been many requests, but very few responses. It's the same situation for the agency Frontex, which asked for 770 experts in July (445 experts were promised following this appeal and Frontex made a further call for 1,054 agents in January 2006, and has so far received commitments for just 141 agents, according to the Commission's figures: Ed). Greece called for aid in early December under the civil protection mechanism and some countries offered nothing. Hungary, for instance, has offered us nothing, not even as much as a blanket. What Hungary has offered is a barbed wire fence 100 km long and a few agents for Frontex and EASO. And they have sent around 25 police officers to FYROM. But there are also countries which have shown their solidarity, such as Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Is Budapest's attitude targeted against Greece?
Not just against Greece, against Europe! But now is not the time to go into battle with our partners. We need to find common solutions and Greece wants to contribute to them. The crisis concerns many players and no country can do it alone. It is an enormous problem and we are going to be living with it for some time. We need a long-term vision.
Should the Commission take action against the countries which are reluctant to relocate migrants?
The Commission's actions are not enough. It is also the responsibility of the European Council to take action to enforce its decisions.
In terms of flows, do you expect as many arrivals in 2016 as in 2015?
Arrivals remained high in December and January (nearly 80,000 arrivals in January 2016, according to the International Organisation of Migrations), but it is impossible to predict what will happen in 2016. There will be a number of factors in play: the EU/Turkey action plan, the results of which need to be clearer, the role of NATO, which we will hope will mainly help to break up networks of traffickers of migrants (see EUROPE 11488). Our hope, which is also the hope of the EU, is to reduce the flows.
How would you assess your relations with Turkey and the EU action plan with Ankara?
We have very close cooperation with Turkey, with their border guards, based on the exchange of information, but each country respect its own sovereignty. The readmission agreement with the EU is not yet valid, it will enter into force in June, and we have to work to make it effective. As for the action plan with the EU, the Turks have promised something, and so we need to trust them. And they are capable of making good on it (for instance, fighting traffickers). More generally, the EU needs to work with Turkey, but also to support countries such as Jordan and Lebanon as well as the United Nations, notably via its food programme for the Syrian refugees, which remains dramatically under-funded. The EU should also have greater influence in the peace process in the Middle East.
Is allowing certain countries to bring back controls on the internal borders of the Schengen zone for a period of up to 2 years tantamount to sanctioning Greece?
From a psychological point of view, it would be a bad thing. Greece would be punished to an extent. But from a practical point of view, it won't change much, because the countries already carry out controls on their internal borders. Do you think migrants travel by plane? But we can avoid the triggering of this 'article 26' (of the 'Schengen Borders Code'). We have accepted the (50) recommendations and we have already implemented half of them (see EUROPE 11489).
Are you in favour of the creation of a European border guards and coastguards agency and the introduction of a right of intervention for the EU at given points on its external borders?
We are very strongly in favour of a better-equipped agency with a renewed mandate, but we don't understand how the EU could take action against the will of a member state. That has never happened in the past, quite the reverse. Two countries - Italy and Greece - have asked for help. Nobody has turned any help away. In fact, there's not enough of it.
It is also easy to criticise Greece and to say that it's not doing enough to protect the borders. But there's the small matter of geography. There are three routes: once, it was Spain and then to Italy via Libya; now, it's the Aegean Sea route. It's very easy to criticise and those who do so have no maritime borders to manage. When you see a boat sinking, you can't send its occupants back where they came from; you have to save them and register them. That's what we did on Lesbos in 2015, sometimes we had up to 7,000 people in a single day. No other country would be able to cope.