Meeting of the Minister for Migration and Asylum, Mr.Notis Mitarachi with the Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas
The Minister for Migration and Asylum, Mr. Notis Mitarachi had a meeting with the Vice President of the European Commission, Mr.Margaritis Schinas, in the building of the European Commission Delegation in Athens.
During their meeting, they discussed the ongoing on the Migratory issue, in view of the Special Internal Affairs Council of the European Union which will be held on Friday in Brussels.
Mr. Mitarachi underlined that a European solution to this issue is necessary, pointing out that the new Pact on Migration and Asylum should proceed, which must nevertheless fulfill two objectives. On the one hand, there must be a substantial reduction in migration flows within the European Union and on the other hand, the obliged solidarity to the first reception countries. Similarly, Mr. Mitarachi pointed out that it is important to implement the 2016 Joint Declaration between the European Union and Turkiye.
At the same time, the Minister for Migration and Asylum thanked Mr. Margaritis Schinas for his substantial contribution to the timely approval of the European funds amounting 1.9 billion euros to Greece, for the migratory issue on the current period.
For his part, the Vice President of the European Commission, Mr..Margaritis Schinas noted that"Time is not our ally in the management of migration. Ongoings on the ground are running much faster than the political clock that has to deal with. The European Commission has for the past three years supported all member states on migration in two ways, as an architect, but also as a fireman."At the same time, Mr. Schinas underlined that tomorrow's Council of Migration Ministers"is an opportunity to restate that in immigration, the only path we have before us is European unity, European solidarity".
Unofficial translation of the statement of the Minister for Migration and Asylum, Mr. Notis Mitarachi in detail: :
"I met today with the Vice President of the European Commission, Mr..Margaritis Schinas, in view of the urgent meeting tomorrow of the Council of the European Union on Migration.
The European Commission is promoting a New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which now needs to move forward and be agreed on. A Pact that must achieve two goals for Greece.
Firstly, the substantial reduction in flows and the action plan proposed tomorrow by the European Commission addresses a number of critical issues, to which we must also include the correct implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint Declaration, to which Mr. Schinas has worked personally. And secondly, the creation of a compulsory mechanism to provide solidarity to the first reception countries.
I also thanked Mr. Schinas for his substantial contribution to the on time approval of the European Migration Funds for the current programming period totalling EUR 1.9 billion, which allow our country to operate the reception, asylum and integration system effectively without negative impact on the Greek economy, thus facing a problem which has tortured us for many years.”
Unofficial translation of the statement of the Vice President of the European Commission, Mr. Margaritis Schinas in detail:
""Time is not our ally in managing Migration. Ongoings on the ground are running much faster than the political clock that has to deal with. The European Commission has for the past three years supported all member states on migration in two ways, as an architect, but also as a firefighter.
As architects we want to achieve this great European agreement on a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, as soon as possible, which will enable us to work with structural solutions based on Community Law. Not to work from crisis to crisis, from ship to ship. And we are approaching this final european agreement. I am sure that by the end of the current Commission's term of office, we will succeed.
But at the same time, precisely because our crises are pressing, we must also function as firefighters. On the major routes of migratory flows, in the Aegean, in the central Mediterranean and in the Atlantic. It is precisely in this context that Greece is the member state of the European Union that has received the greatest and most powerful aid from Europe. We have so far financed more than 2.5 billion euros to 3 billion euros in the Hellenic Republic and we announce that with 1.9 billion of additional funding for this period we will support the country. We have the Greek Border Guard operating at our external borders, which are also borders of Europe and we have built and financed one hundred percent from the community budget to modern centers for the reception of migrants and asylum seekers in the Aegean islands. This tangible support is a reality, not just talk of the air.
So we're approaching the moment when these two building sites of architecture and fire-fighting are combined. Starting from tomorrow, when we will have the opportunity at the urgent Council of Ministers for migration to discuss a framework of twenty actions that will solve many of the problems faced in the central Mediterranean, but not forgetting about the other routes, Turkiye and the Atlantic. It is an opportunity, to restate that in migration the only path we have before us is European unity, European solidarity.”
