Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Wednesday announced his “satisfaction” with an agreement to reform the EU’s migration laws, calling it “an important response” to Greece’s calls for change.
The accord “is an important European response to the great national effort to implement a strict but fair immigration policy”, Mitsotakis said during a cabinet meeting.
Along with Italy, Greece has been on the frontlines of receiving migrants seeking to enter the European Union by crossing the Mediterranean from Turkey or North Africa.
Since the beginning of the year, some 44,900 people asylum-seekers have arrived in Greece, almost all landing in islands near the Turkish coast. It is the largest number in four years, according to the United Nations.
NGOs working with migrants have routinely denounced conditions in detention centres on Greek islands and have even accused Greece of pushing migrant boats away from its waters, a charge the country denies.
The EU’s new migration package comes after Greece on Tuesday passed legislation giving residency permits to some migrants who have been in the country for three years and are working.
The legislation is intended to overcome manpower shortages in the agriculture and construction sectors.
Source: AFP
