“It is time for the EU to demand from Turkey, in a collective and coordinated manner, to control its borders, prevent illegal departures from its territory and enforce measures against smugglers, as it should”, Greek Minister of Migration, Notis Mitarachis, said today from Paphos region, after the conclusion of the fourth MED 5 Ministerial Summit on migration and asylum.
He noted that the procedure for returns of immigrants to Turkey should resume, as provided by the EU-Turkey agreement of 2016, and emphasized on the need for enhanced monitoring and protection of the EU external borders, additionally to the demonstration of solidarity between the member-states, which is a demand of the MED 5 for migration and asylum.
He also pointed out the responsibility of Turkey for the loss of human lives in the Aegean Sea, due to accidents with overloaded vessels led by smugglers. He said that there is no way that the Turkish authorities cannot see that 100-200 people are boarding on sailing boats, but they still do nothing to stop them from leaving the country, as they should. He also mentioned that the boat that sunk lately near Lesvos was in fact led outside of Turkey’s territorial waters by Turkish fishing boats.
Answering to a question, Mitarachis spoke of Frontex as an important asset of the EU and added that the focus should be for Frontex to have assets to work even outside of the EU’s territorial waters. “We need to enter bilateral agreements, to work with countries of transit, to prevent from their source the departure of vessels towards the EU and it is Frontex that needs to play this role”, he said.
Continuing with his answer, the Greek Minister said that “returns of all illegal arrivals, but, also, enough legal pathways for those who need protection, should be the way for the EU to move forward” and added that “we need to send the message that Europe will always be open”. He concluded that a two-fold approach is needed, to invest in humanitarian actions and, at the same time, to act for the return of those coming irregularly, if they are not entitled of international protection.
In his statement about the results of the Summit, Mitarachis said that it provided an excellent opportunity for the coordination of the actions of the five countries towards the Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg next week and emphasized on Greece’s position that the creation of a mandatory and binding mechanism for relocations is necessary.
Source: Cyprus News Agency