Greek Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis, in an interview on Tuesday to ANT1, said that a draft bill on migration to be tabled within the next week will cut down the time needed to deport someone from Greece to just six months, from 10 years at present.
“So-called pushbacks – to prevent a boat from coming by putting your boat in its way – are expressly forbidden by international law. Pushbacks can’t happen and I say this to stop anyone saying there are easy solutions” pointed out Georgiadis.
“We were informed by the competent minister how many years are needed, based on the law voted by SYRIZA, in order for Greece to be able to deport someone. Precisely 10 years. This is why we had only 1,837 deportations in the last 4.5 years…” Georgiadis said.
He explained that under the new procedure when a boat with migrants and refugees arrives in Greece the foreign nationals will be divided into high and low refugee profile groups within the first three days of their arrival. The high-profile asylum seekers, nearly 7 percent, will be sent to open centers until the process to grant them refugee status is completed. “Those with a low refugee profile, 93 percent, will be sent to closed-type centers where they will remain for six months until the first and second stage of the asylum application process is completed, and then sent back to Turkey,” the minister added.
In conclusion, Georgiadis said: “If the people paying 1,500 to 2,000 US dollars to cross the Aegean are made aware that within four months they will be back, they will stop paying to come to Greece and will go to another country,” he argued.
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