Speeches

Mr President, I am from Greece, a country that has known the migration problem very well for many years, not only because it is located at Europe's external borders and in an unstable geopolitical region, but also because hundreds of thousands of people – in a very short time – have reached Evros and the Greek islands. Many times my country's government has been criticised for pursuing a strict but fair immigration policy. For many years, the logic was "let the first-receiving countries deal with the problem". Today it is clear – and loudly – that migration concerns the whole of Europe and is not addressed by unilateral actions to close land borders. A European response is needed with stricter protection of the external borders, protection of the Schengen area – an important European acquis, solidarity between us and fair sharing of obligations, cooperation but also pressure on third countries to accept returns. Europe has borders and the decision of who enters Europe must be our decision and not that of the smugglers.