Greece’s Alternate Minister for Immigration Policy, Tasia Christodoulopoulou, says the United States, Australia and other western countries should take some of the refugees that are flooding Greece and other Mediterranean countries.
Mrs Christodoulopoulou says intervention by the west in African and Arab countries has created the massive exit of refugees and that the nations involved in the interventions have an obligation to assist.
As the Union of Greek Municipalities (KEDE) called on the Greek government to take action to deal with an unprecedented wave of mass migration through Greece, Christodoulopoulou accused municipal and regional authorities of not doing their share.
KEDE chief Giorgos Patoulis said the government had failed to present a comprehensive plan for managing the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly from the Middle East, and warned that delays in implementing European Union measures may lead to hefty fines.
“There is no magic wand that will create the infrastructure or make the migrants disappear,” Christodoulopoulou told a meeting of KEDE on Wednesday.
The minister added that with the exception of the municipalities of Athens and Lesvos, no other regional or municipal authorities have offered facilities for processing and housing arrivals.
The outgoing minister defended the government’s lack of progress, saying that she is expecting €30 million in EU funding to be released next week, which will go toward building reception centres on Kos, Leros and Lesvos.
Her comments came after an earlier statement by European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud, who said that the commission is waiting for Greece to establish an agency to manage the funds.