P. MOLYVIATIS: Good morning, Mr. President. I thank you very much, first of all, for receiving me. I would like to brief you on certain foreign policy issues, and mainly on certain aspects of the migration problem – which has taken on vast dimensions – to the degree, of course, that the Foreign Ministry is involved in the migration problem.
I would like to add that your interest in the immigration issue is well known, Mr. President. Because at one time, in another capacity – that of Home Affairs Minister – you laid the foundations for the shaping of the country’s immigration policy.
PRESIDENT: Mr. Ambassador – I will stay with that title – first of all I want to thank you for agreeing to serve your homeland in this post once again, at a difficult time. Your experience, your ethos, are a great help to this land at this critical time. And particularly when we are facing issues such as the migration problem, with not only Greece, but also Europe, facing a test. Because this issue goes well beyond Greece’s borders.
And there is something important that I will stress and repeat: Of course I am aware that, as a country, we have not always met the obligations we had. But we all have to realize and understand that migration flows of this kind never existed in the past. So the problems are not just due to weaknesses of the Greek state mechanism, but to a kind of higher power that is hindering us from meeting our obligations. But I cannot but underscore the fact that Europe, too, has to realize right now that it has obligations. Because the issue can’t be dealt with by the member states on their own, and particularly by those receiving the largest migration flows.
This is a security issue, but it is also, and mainly, a humanitarian issue. Europe – with the principles and values it has – cannot look the other way. Moreover, what is being said, that Europe needs to formulate a migration policy now that it is faced with these conditions, is not true. We need to remember that such a policy exists as of 2008 – you were part of the preparation of this policy, as Foreign Minister at the time – in the Immigration and Asylum Pact.
This Pact sets down and describes Europe’s policy. The issue is its activation and implementation. I am pleased that Europe’s mechanisms are mobilizing. I am pleased that, on 14 September, the Home Affairs Council will meet with an agenda dedicated to this major issue. But I continue to insist that an emergency Summit Meeting needs to be held on this issue. The previous Summit Meetings, in particular the one in June, did not produce the necessary results. There has to be another Summit, precisely to lay the foundations for substantial implementation of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum.
And throughout the preparations, your presence and the Foreign Ministry’s assistance will be extremely important. Again, thank you very much.
P. MOLYVIATIS: Thank you, Mr. President.
September 1, 2015