Some in Europe should stop being “hypocrites” about migration, considering the international law as “obsolete” and should instead focus on how much money should be granted to those countries that will host refugees, Greece’s leftist main opposition leader and former prime minister Alexis Tsipras told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive statement.
“It is the utmost hypocrisy to count hundreds of dead men, women and children at the bottom of the Mediterranean and for some in Brussels, Athens, Budapest or Berlin to consider international law a ‘luxury’ or ‘obsolete’ and tell us that all we have to discuss is how many euros will be given to countries to host refugees there,” Tsipras said.
Referring to the deadly migrant shipwreck off the Greek coast, which cost the lives of potentially hundreds of migrants, Tsipras said, “It demonstrates in the clearest way the failure not only of Greece but of the entire EU to promote a structured refugee/migration policy that puts saving human life as the first priority”.
The leftist leader added that the negotiation for an EU agreement on migration and asylum must radically change direction and focus on ensuring “legal and safe routes, resettling refugees from third countries to EU member states in a fair way”.
He also stressed that a significant number of annual hospitality places (pledges) in European countries must be guaranteed.
“The more we strengthen legal, safe routes and the more we upgrade the EU’s role and our cooperation on migration with non-EU Mediterranean countries, the weaker will be the networks of smugglers and the illegal and dangerous routes they create,” Tsipras added.
On Thursday, Tsipras had a telephone conversation with EU Migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson, describing it as a “shame” for Europe to have the Mediterranean Sea “littered with corpses”.
According to Frontex, it is estimated that more than 600 people were on board at least 400 are still missing.
Tsipras visited on Thursday, the survivors of the deadly accident.
He then posted a picture on Facebook – described by Greek media as a punch in the gut – with a teenage survivor looking for his brother after the shipwreck.
On Thursday, Tsipras spoke with EU Migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson. [Alexis Tsipras Facebook profile]
“Unfortunately, the value of life is not the same today for all people […] To the question ‘how much is a human life worth?’ the answer is the origin, the colour, the financial ability”, Tsipras commented.
“We have chosen a side: With the human being, without conditions. And as reality becomes harsher, our stubbornness to defend equality, justice and humanity grows,” he concluded.
(Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
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