Greek Parliament Vice-President and main opposition SYRIZA MP Dimitris Vitsas once again raised the refugee issue in an interview with the country’s official parliament television channel ‘Vouli’.
As the former migration policy minister, Mr Vitsas highlighted the government’s inexcusable delay in transferring people from the Lesvos hotspots to the mainland, dubbing decision to abolish the migration policy ministry “a mistake”.
The SYRIZA MP noted that “for the sole purpose of removing the general secretary” this action will have grave consequences.
“From the first moment of the new governance, [SYRIZA] noted that the government took too long to understand the reality with respect to the refugee crisis. Today, 1500 vulnerable individuals are leaving Lesvos for facilities on the mainland. When in the opposition, New Democracy raised objections regarding the definition of vulnerability. These people were planned to leave for the mainland in early July and they are leaving now,” he said.
“If they scrap the refugee committees then all the cases will go to court, with an even greater delay.”
Mr Vitsas warned that individual consideration of asylum applications on two levels is required by international law.
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