PM’s hour in Greek Parliament: Greek PM A. Tsipras on migration

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou confessed that the country is in danger of becoming a “storehouse” of refugees in response to a question by Union of Centrists leader Vasilis Levendis, though he maintained that this would not be allowed to happen.

Speaking about the transfer of migrants from Idomeni to Athens he stated that there is a “gathering of migrants at the Tae Kwon Do” stadium and characterized the squabbles that took place there as “minor episodes”.

He pointed to an international obligation regarding the Schengen treaty that is to effectively contribute the battle against terrorism, meaning immediate identification and registration of migrants that enter the country. Tsipras said that Greece is the last bastion of stability in a destabilized region. Referring to FRONTEX, he said that Greece has asked for the force to be increased, stressing that only 200 of 1,600 staff members that Greece asked for have arrived. He underlined that Greece has no objections to the creation of an EU coast guard but said that there was an objection to a request for Greek-Turkish joint patrols.