Greece’s urgent measures to tackle migration; Syrian refugees will receive documents

Greece proceeds with radical measures and without much talking and negotiations with its EU/Schengen partners in order to tackle the influx of illegal migrants and refugees arriving in the country from Turkey. In an urgent cabinet meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday,  it has been decided that:

1. Migrants and refugees will be transferred from the islands to mainland and be hosted in reception centers.

2. Receptions centers will be enclosed and will provide the migrants with medical health care and humane living conditions.

3 Refugees will be separated from economic migrants

4. Refugees from Syria entitled for asylum will be provided with all necessary documents. The original statement “Syrian refugees  entitled for asylum will be provided with legal travel documents so that they can travel to the country of their choice,” was modified and some word were omitted, apparently because the government realized that this would cause problems with the Schengen-Agreement.

5. In view of the EU Summit and the Conference of Ministers in charge, the Greek government will take all necessary steps to address the migration and refugees flow to Europe in the context of European solidarity and to a proportional allocation of refugees in all countries of the European Union.

Noting that “the primary motive for the majority of these people is not economic poverty but an imminent threat to their lives,” Government spokesman Gaviil Sakellaridis stressed that:

“The refugees’ problem is not a Greek problem but an European one. It requires seriousness, composure and above all humanity.”

Greece but also Italy have been exposed to a huge wave of migrants and refugees since the weather conditions allowed boats carrying them from the troubled Middle East and North Africa.

Media report this evening of a Breaking News story according to which a boat carrying refugees from Libya sank in the Mediterranean Sea, most probably off Italy. International Media speak of  some “400 migrants who died in a shipwreck after leaving Libya in an attempt to reach Italy.”