"Greece's position is the common European protection space"
"The European protection regime is the only answer to the Union 's criticism of double standards”, stressed the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Mr. Notis Mitarachi, during his speech at the Joint Conference of the National School of Judges and the European Union Agency for Asylum.
As Mr. Mitarachi pointed out:
“Judges serving on the Independent Appeals Committees of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum have been called upon to hear appeals concerning critical issues, such as the application of the concept of 'safe third country'. “Through their decisions, they fortify the rights of those who are entitled to protection in Greece'’.
The Minister of Migration and Asylum also referred to the lessons of the pandemic and migration crisis that the government had to deal with and highlighted the potential of new technologies regarding the management of the asylum system.
"Greece has been found", added Mr. Mitarachi, “at the forefront, establishing with the assistance of the EUAA the institution of remote interviews, but also of remote administration schemes. Our goal is to move to a fully digitalized environment, which will contribute to the basic goal of any national asylum system which is the rapid and qualitative examination of all asylum applications.”
At the same time, Mr. Mitarachi placed special emphasis on the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive and the Common European Protected Area, at a time when our country has welcomed about 26 thousand Ukrainians. Mr. Mitarachi concluded characteristically:
"“On the occasion of the tragic events in Ukraine, the EU took a step in the right direction, that of creating a Common European Protected Area. The Common European Protected Area, which is Greece's firm position in the ongoing negotiations on the Migration and Asylum Pact, is the rational consequence of a Common European Asylum System”.
