Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris addressed Greece’s migration policy, the postponement of the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, and Panos Routsis’s hunger strike.
“Over the past eight months, approximately 28,000 migrants have arrived in our country, with 12-13 thousand reaching Crete. It’s now clear that while migration flows are decreasing in the rest of the country, the opposite is happening with those starting from Libya,” Minister Plevris initially stated on ANT1.
“In Europe, voices calling for more active handling of migration flows are multiplying, and my voice is among them. The doctrine now in our country for illegal migration is ‘return or imprisonment,'” he emphasized. “We informed those who don’t have a refugee profile, namely migrants from Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and 30% of them expressed interest in voluntary return to their countries,” the Minister stressed.
What Plevris said about Trump’s statement on Greek prisons
Referring to Trump’s statement that 54% of those in Greek prisons are foreigners, he said “when I used to say the same things, they called me a racist. But it’s obvious that the crime rate among migrants is much higher than that of Greeks.”
Regarding the cancellation of the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, he observed that “they accuse us that our policy toward Turkey is conciliatory. However, Turkey’s annoyance with the active foreign policy we pursue is evident, and this led to the meeting’s cancellation. This means we’re doing something right.”
Finally, concerning Panos Routsis’s hunger strike, he mentioned that “anything related to the Tempe tragedy and the victims’ families’ demands, I believe should be handled with particular sensitivity. However, I don’t think any action should take place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is a monument, a cenotaph for those who lost their lives for the homeland.”
