Invited to discuss the situation of migrants and asylum seekers in his country, Greek Minister for Migration Ioannis Mouzalas assured MEPs on the Parliament’s civil liberties committee on Thursday 9 March that things had significantly improved, in particular on mainland Greece, and also on the islands where only 9,000 people remain, compared with 14,000 in September.
He nonetheless continued to criticise those member states which had failed to keep their promises, for example, in terms of relocation and providing staff for the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), and he underlined the strain that places on Greece.
Before the committee, Mouzalas defended the actions of this government, when close to 10,000 people were arriving per day on average in 2015. “Greece managed the situation: there were no catastrophes, no epidemics” and Greeks showed great solidarity and friendship towards the migrants, with the exception perhaps of the people of the islands, acknowledged the minister, who noted certain “populist” responses and reflexes of turning in on oneself there. He regretted the “extremely racist” responses of “mayors who didn’t want to take” migrants and hotels which refused to open their doors.
He pointed out that Greece had created places for 50,000 people on mainland Greece in the space of eight months. “No one is living in tents any more, the children have been vaccinated and they are beginning to go to school.”
Some 1,400 place have been created for unaccompanied minors in the space of eight months and, between now and summer, “we will have found places for them all, I believe”, he added.
The situation is more difficult on the islands, he stated, however, thanking the EU for the aid to his country, without which “Greece would not have survived” but regretting that it always intervenes too late and often not fully enough.
While Greece is often accused of delays in returning irregular migrants to Turkey under the terms of the agreement of 18 March 2016, the minister argued that things would go more quickly if the member states had provided the EASO with the support they promised in terms of staff.
Mouzalas says that the EASO is still short of staff to help the relevant Greek authorities manage cases and identify those who qualify for international protection. He also pointed out that, if Greece was behind on asylum procedures, it was because it was complying strictly with European and international law and was genuinely assessing requests individually.
The minister said that the EU-Turkey agreement, which remains controversial almost a year after it came into force, was “not the ideal solution” but that it had given Greece some “breathing space”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)