N. Mitarakis: Greece is not blackmailed, threatened and does not negotiate its national sovereignty

“Turkey must return to the path of logic, fully implement the 2016 Joint Declaration and end its current revisionist stance,” said Minister of Immigration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis during his speech. in the debate on the Draft Law of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum “Ratification of the Code of Reception for the reception, the international protection of third country nationals and natives and the temporary protection in case of mass influx of displaced foreigners”.

“Greece does not blackmail and does not threaten. Similarly, Greece is not blackmailed, threatened and does not negotiate even a speck of its national sovereignty. But also any attempt to instrumentalize human suffering,” said Mr. Mitarakis from the floor of Parliament, adding “We propose our just demands to the international community and we have as our arsenal sobriety and International Law”, added Mr. Mitarakis.

“Our country guards its borders and consequently the borders of Europe with absolute adherence to international law and fundamental rights,” said the Minister of Immigration and Asylum.

Referring to the course of decongestion, he noted that “we have drastically decongested mainland Greece, the islands, the regions, the cities, and the neighborhoods. Now, all the regions of the country are below the 1% threshold we promised. From 121 “structures are operating today 34. We closed 87 structures and soon two more. At the end of 2022 we will close the apartments of the ESTIA program”.

In addition, Mr. Mitarakis made special mention of the city of Athens, as he stressed that “decongestion is coming to the big cities. On December 31, 2022 there will be no structure and no accommodation apartment in Athens, which has received intense pressure on the Immigration “.

Then, Mr. Mitarakis underlined that “the new closed controlled structures in Samos, Kos and Leros, which act as a deterrent to new flows, also play an important role. They are modern and safe, replacing the HQs of shame. With dignity and humanity for “We continue in Lesvos and Chios to complete the construction work. The new KEDs have been built with exclusively European funding, showing how reliable our country is now vis-.-vis the European Union.”

Regarding the content of the draft law, Mr. Mitarakis stated that “the dispersed provisions in the laws on reception, asylum and temporary protection are recorded in a single piece of legislation. It is a legislative text, modern and up-to-date, which will facilitate both researchers as well as the enforcers of the law of international protection in our country ”.

Mr. Mitarakis, during his deuterology, stressed that “it is important to safeguard international law and the rights of all. But what is always missing from the positions of SYRIZA MPs are the rights of the islanders. You never mention them. you have not once apologized for your policy to the residents of Mytilene, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros for what they experienced “.

The Minister of Immigration and Asylum stood on the improved image of Immigration in the country, saying that “flows in 2021, the lowest in the decade, reduced by 90% compared to 2019, when Europe saw an increase of 57%. Our islands have seen the largest change of asylum seekers from 17,000 on election day, to 1,700 today. “Today, only 1/12. And that’s why the new structures, where they operate, are now accepted by the local community.”

Finally, responding to complaints about opaque assignment procedures, Mr. Mitarakis said that “in 2016, SYRIZA colleagues, you passed an order that gave the right to the Ministry of National Defense, but also to other public bodies to make direct assignments whatever they want for This provision has been abolished and all the assignments of the Ministry of Immigration are made through international tenders, such as the construction of new structures, the feeding, the operation of the buildings, the movements, such as the consulting services we needed, everything is done through tenders. We have also submitted the tenders that exceeded the limits of their procedure to the Parliament and we have had a discussion in the Competent Standing Committee “.

“I am surprised that SYRIZA spent more than 1 billion euros during the years of government and you did not submit a single contract to the Parliament for discussion”, he concluded characteristically.