Athens, 13/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - During a press meeting on Friday in Athens, the Greek Minister for the Interior, Michalis Chryssochoidis, took up the main priorities of the Greek Presidency concerning the fight against illegal immigration. He mainly spoke of common external border management and the equitable sharing of the burden as well as enhanced partnership with third countries, also with the creation, by this coming spring, of a network of liaison officers in the form of a pilot programme in the Balkans. Regarding the definition of "refugee", the minister felt that "work is already well under way and we should finish by June". Mr Chryssochoidis insisted at length on the need to strengthen cooperation with Turkey, which is one of the main countries for the transit of illegal immigrants. He urged for financial support and infrastructure, and noted that each crisis produces a flow of refugees. On the subject of Iraq, he stressed the need to begin preparing for the provision of humanitarian aid.
Stressing, among other things, the very great instability of justice and police officials in the Balkans and the extent of organised crime and corruption, Mr Chryssochoidis felt that the EU has made a mistake in granting special importance to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that already have an institutional and democratic tradition, leaving the Balkans to one side. He called for a policy geared to: (1) the creation of structures and institutions as well as the fight against corruption, with a follow-up and assessment mechanism, and (2) economic and social development in order to tackle organised crime at root level. After the conference held at the end of last year in London, a new meeting on organised crime in the Balkans will be held in April, the minister said, specifying that he hoped the United States, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey would be actively involved in the dialogue on organised crime.