Mitsotakis tells EU’s Johansson Greece, Europe are facing ‘asymmetric threat’
Greece and Europe are facing an “asymmetric threat” at their sea and land borders, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told visiting European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson during a meeting Thursday.
He accused Turkey of using migrants and refugees as geopolitical pawns, adding that recent tension at the Greek-Turkish border were thousands of people have been stranded for over a week hoping to cross into Europe is not regular migration but “a matter of national security," state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported.
Mitsotakis also called for a proportional allocation of refugees from the first entry countries to the other member-states.
The two sides agreed that recent migrant flows are not comparable to those of 2015, as the majority of those arriving are not refugees, according to ANA-MPA.
The meeting came shortly after the announcement of an agreement reached Thursday between the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and the European Commission for the voluntary return of another 5,000 asylum seekers to their home countries, funded by the European Union.
