The situation at the refugee camp in Idomeni was “tragic and unacceptable,” European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said after a visit to the makeshift camp near Greece’s border on Tuesday, accompanied by Greece’s Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas. Avramopoulos also urged European Union member-states to honor the decisions they made jointly so that the process of relocating refugees could finally begin.
“We are talking about the capacity to relocate 6,000 people weekly and it must be made clear that a refugee that has a right to asylum is one thing, but an irregular migrant is another and they must know that they will be returned to their country of origin,” the Commissioner said.
At the same time, he stressed that the unacceptable conditions at Idomeni must not be allowed to continue:
“This is where the values and principles of the civilized world are daily put to the test and what we saw people enduring under tragic conditions must stop right away. Unfortunately, they are being ruthlessly exploited by trafficking rings that misinform them,” Avramopoulos said.
Europe’s stance toward refugees was one of respect and dignity but the conditions at Idomeni did not reflect this, he added.
He appealed to all EU countries to open their doors and uphold their decisions to share the burden, pointing out that closed borders and fences were “alien” to European principles, politics and philosophy. He also expressed Europe’s support for Greece, which was coming under disproportionate pressure from the refugee crisis.
Mouzalas, on his part, said that great efforts were being made to complete new reception facilities and provide new places, as well as to make refugees understand that the borders will not open.
“These people must be persuaded to leave. We cannot use riot police to drive them away but we must prepare ourselves slowly, I would say within the next 20 days, for this camp to be a very small place,” he said. It was necessary to isolate those spreading rumors that the borders will open and provoking refugees to “irresponsible and illegal actions such as that yesterday,” the minister added. He was referring to an attempt by a few dozen refugees to illegally cross over the border into the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), which ended in at least three fatalities on Monday.
Source: ANA MPA
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
