Athens, 13 December 2023

Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice meets with delegation from Committee on Security of Parliament of Czech Republic

A cross-party delegation from the Standing Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice of the Hellenic Parliament met today, Tuesday 12 December 2023, with a delegation of MPs from the Committee on Security of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, headed by the Committee's Chair, Pavel ŽÁČEK, who are visiting our country. 

On the agenda was the issue of migration and the MPs who participated from the Greek side were the Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice, Lazaros Tsavdaridis, the Secretary of the Committee, Katerina Papakosta-Palioura and members of the Committee Nina Kassimati and Nadia Giannakopoulou. 

All members of the Greek delegation expressed the view that our country is in favour of the conclusion of negotiations on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, on the basis of the principle of solidarity and the fair allocation of responsibility between EU member states and the approval of the reform before the June 2024 European elections. 

As Mr Tsavdaridis stressed, that will be the united European response to the extreme voices, which through the instrumentalisation of the migration issues, are trying to blow up European unity. Furthermore, he pointed out the need to increase returns and to fight the smuggling of migrants, which are proving to be the most crucial factors in shaping a functional European system of mogration and asylum. Besides, as far as tackling illegal migration is concerned, the role of Turkey as a key country remains crucial, as does Turkey's cooperation both with Greece and the EU, concluded Mr Tsavdaridis. 

The Head of the Czech delegation, Pavel ŽÁČEK, for his part, pointed out that the migration issue is a European issue and managing it is a duty of the whole of Europe, however, he made it clear to the Greek side that his country does not support a stable mechanism for the redistribution of refugees, to alleviate the countries of first reception of migrants. He stressed, however, his country's willingness to show flexible solidarity in other ways, such as funding for infrastructure that will strengthen the external borders of the EU.   

 

     

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