The government is satisfied with the conclusions of the European Council on Migration, government sources said on Friday. In statements after the end of the informal European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, the sources said the Council had adopted the basic Greek positions and recognized that the problem is European …
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Greece’s Migration Minister as Christmas tree ball (video)
Greek Christmas kitsch to the sounds of “All I want for Christmas is you”… Employees at the Migration Ministry made their own tree balls with the picture of minister Notis Mitarakis inside. As if this ridiculous idea wasn’t enough, they also posted a video on the official ministry’s social media …
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Mitsotakis: “Turkey’s charges on migration issue are fake news”
The Turkish leader’s charges against Greece are fake news and deeply disappointing, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview to CNN late on Thursday. The Greek PM is in New York to attend the 77th United Nations General Assembly meeting. He is scheduled to address the Assembly on …
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Online platform for Ukrainian refugees in Greece opens on March 28
A platform for Ukrainian refugees to apply for temporary protection and identification card will go live on March 28, Migration & Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Sunday. In an interview with Sunday newspaper Real News, Mitsrakis said via the platform the Ukrainian Refugees will register for individual appointments at …
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Greece to send transport mean to Poland for Ukrainian refugees’ resettlement
Greece will send buses or airplanes to Poland to resettle Ukrainean refugees in the country following an appeal by the Polish government, Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Thursday. The appeal came as more than 1.3 million Ukrainians have sought refuge in Poland. The minister stressed that the …
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Greece, Malta agree new EU Migration Pact no prerequisite for action
Greece’s Migration and Asylum minister, Notis Mitarakis, and Malta’s Interior Minister, Byron Camilleri,have agreed that the new European Migration and Asylum Pact which is under negotiation is not a prerequisite for action regarding external relations, border protection and returns. The two ministers met in Valletta on the sidelines of the …
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Greece launches international campaign against Afghan migration with EU funding
Greece’s Migration and Asylum Ministry assigned a company for a campaign to convince Afghan citizens not to try and reach Greece. The campaign is financed at 75% with EU funding. The campaign worth 73,532 euros (including Value Added Tax) has a duration of 3 months and will include videos and …
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“We will not allow the instrumentalization of migration,” says Greek FM
“A major challenge we share is the risk that some countries may try to instrumentalize migratory flows. We have witnessed this pattern several times in the past. And I am going to say clearly, to everybody, we will not allow this to reoccur,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Wednesday …
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Greece proposes Frontex be allowed to operate beyond EU borders
Returning unapproved asylum seekers to their home countries could become an easier task if European border patrol agency Frontex could operate outside of European borders, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Wednesday. Speaking virtually with German Deputy Minister for Migration Stephan Mayer, Mitarakis added that bilateral agreements with other …
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Migration Minister jeered by far-right protesters over new migration camp (videos)
Chanting “traitors” and slogans with homophobic content, residents of Orestiada jeered Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis earlier on Monday. The angry mob booed and threw waters bottles, crackers and eggs at the minister visiting the broader area of Evros in north-eastern Greece bordering Turkey. They were holding Greek flags, …
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Austria will offer €2million to Greece to address the migration crisis
Austria will offer to Greece two million euros as contribution to the Greek government’s efforts to address the migration-refugee crisis and its repercussions, Austria’s Minister of Interior Karl Nehammer said on Wednesday. € Nehammer made these statement during his visit to the identification and accommodation center VIAL on the island …
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Evros: Migration flows at Greek-Turkish borders doubled in last 24 hours
Migration flows doubled in the Evros region at the Greek-Turkish borders in the last 24 hours hours with the biggest pressure to be recorded in the areas of Tychero and Ferres. According to daily kathimerini, police intercepted more than 400 people in the border areas of Tychero and Ferres within …
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EU and Greece offer €2,000 for voluntary return of 5,000 migrants
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis announced the creation of a temporary mechanism for the voluntary return of 5,000 migrants from the Greek islands to their countries of origin. The mechanism will be temporary, lasting only one month, and will offer the …
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EU Interior Ministers Council calls on Turkey to implement 2016 deal
The Council of the Interior Ministers of the European Union has expressed solidarity with Greece and called on Turkey to fully implement the provisions of the 2016 EU-Turkey deal on Migration. It also strongly rejects Turkey’s use of migratory pressure for political purposes. The Council conveyed on Wednesday following a …
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Majority of islanders consider migration as “a threat to Greece”
The migration crisis had negatively affected locals on the islands mostly affected, with 65% of islanders saying that they consider migrants and refugees as a threat to Greece, a survey has shown. In a survey conducted by Kapa Research on the islands of Lesvos, Samos and Chios and thus on …
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“Hotspots on islets not in gov’t plan,” says Deputy Migration Minister
Building closed hotspots on islets “is not a government plan,” Alternate Migration and Asylum Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos said on Saturday, a day after local authorities on the island of Lesvos proposed the new migration center to be build on the uninhabited islet Tokmakia 5 nautical miles of the island. He …
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Lesvos authorities propose migration center on uninhabited islet Tokmakia
A surprise proposal by local authorities on the island of Lesvos: The new closed migration center should be constructed on the uninhabited islet Tokmakia near Lesvos and not in Karava area as the government has planned. The idea is attributed to New Democracy MP and former Justice Minister Charalambos Athanasiou, …
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Migration: Greece calls on NATO allies to strengthen presence in Aegean
Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos called for the strengthening of NATO ‘s presence in the Aegean Sea in order to halt the migration influx from Turkey. Speaking at the two-day meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Panagiotopoulos called on all allies, to the best of their abilities, to contribute …
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Islands against requisition: Legal measures, “guard teams”, protests
Municipalities on the the islands of Lesvos and Chios decided to take counter-measures as they categorically reject the government plans to requisite public and private properties and land in order to construct the new migration centers. The Regional government went even further and cut the dialogue with Athens. In emergency …
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Greece is building floating fences to stop migration flows in the Aegean
Greece is planning to build floating fences in the Aegean Sea in order to prevent refugees and migrants to arrive from Turkey, The fences are reportedly to be set off the islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea that receive the overwhelming migration flows. The plan will be executed by the …
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