The Greek-Turkish cooperation, which is at the basis of the EU-Turkey deal, is very good and Greece wants to strengthen it, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said earlier on Monday in a speech at a roundtable on forced displacement, at the U.N. World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
“Any progress could serve as an example of good practice on how we face humanitarian challenges,” Tsipras told attendees, adding that forced displacements reached a new record high in 2016, with the war in Syria and Iraq and the political situation in Afghanistan, contributing to this trend.
He also said the largest burden is carried by the countries neighbouring Syria – Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey – which “deserve our praise and solidarity for dealing with the challenge of hosting millions of people who are in need.”
“For the first time, there [refugee] flows are placing huge pressures on Europe as well,” Tsipras continued. “In this framework, the challenge of migration is for the first time of such a scale, not just as a regional and international problem, but as European [problem], highlighting Europe’s responsibilities.”
Relocation program
He then went on to lament the slow implementation of the relocation program by criticizing some member-states “Unfortunately, the progress in relocation is extremely poor, even towards European countries, which have not shared any of burdens deriving from the refugee flows,” he said.
Tsipras stressed that less than 1,000 people have relocated from Greece to other European destinations since 2015, despite pledges for tens of thousands, while the second mechanism for the resettlement of refugees from Turkey to Europe has not been established yet.
Another crucial aspect for tackling migration is the signing of readmission agreements with countries of transit and origin, “which will effectively help discourage illegal migration, while at the same time guaranteeing all rights to asylum,” he said.
Earlier, the premier had a 40-minute meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the UN World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. According to sources, they discussed ther refugee crisis, while both expressed optimism about a good outcome on all issues at Tuesday’s Eurogroup.
Also on the sidelines of the summit, Tsipras met his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa and Ireland’s President Michael Higgins.
Source:ANA-MPA
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
