Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked Europe to help in handling tens of thousands of refugees coming in from Syria, Afghanistan and other war zones, saying on Friday his cash-strapped country could not deal with them alone.
The influx has piled pressure on Greece’s services at a time when its own citizens are struggling with harsh cuts and its government is negotiating with the EU and the IMF for fresh loans to stave off economic collapse.
Boatloads of migrants arriving every day had triggered a “humanitarian crisis within the economic crisis,” Tsipras said after a meeting with ministers.
Photo: Reuters
“The EU is being tested on the issue of Greece. It has responded negatively on the economic front — that’s my view. I hope it will respond positively on the humanitarian front,” he said.
The comments came as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called on Greece to take control of the “total chaos” on Mediterranean islands, where thousands of migrants have landed.
About 124,000 have arrived this year by sea, many via Turkey, UNHCR director for Europe Vincent Cochetel said.
“The level of suffering we have seen on the islands is unbearable. People arrive thinking they are in the European Union. What we have seen was not anything acceptable in terms of standards of treatment,” Cochetel said after visiting the Greek islands of Lesbos, Kos and Chios.
“I have never seen a situation like that. This is the European Union and this is totally shameful,” he added.
At a makeshift refugee center at Kara Tepe, a hilltop about 5km north of Lesbos Island’s main town of Mytilene, about 50 white tents provided by the local council struggled to accommodate the waves of people coming in daily.
Rubbish littered the area and locals said 16 toilets were frequently blocked, despite attempts by authorities to keep the area clean.
Up to 10 people could be seen sharing one of the tents, while others lay on pieces of cardboard, jostling for space under the shade of olive trees in sweltering heat.
“The government had battles on plenty of fronts and probably could not give as much attention to the problem,” Lesbos Mayor Spiros Galinos said.
Cochetel said Greece had to step up its response.
“We’ve told the Greek authorities that if it was a natural disaster, there would be mobilization of other assets including from the ministry of defense,” he said. “It’s easy, there are plenty of empty army barracks in Greece, there is plenty of uncultivated land that could be rented and sites could be developed.”
Tsipras said the problem was a European issue and not just a Greek one. He said ministries would coordinate to help relieve the burden on distant islands and that a special unit would be set up to make use of dedicated EU funds to beef up border controls and integrate migrants into society.
“The immigrant flow to Greece is beyond of what our state infrastructure can handle,” Tsipras said. “We have significant problems to face it and that’s why we have asked help from EU.”
The country, stuck in a seven-year financial crisis, has returned to recession again and narrowly averted bankruptcy this year by agreeing a bailout deal.
The EU has sought to share the burden of the refugees across its member countries, but the response has been mixed.
EU leaders have pledged to relocate 16,000 migrants over two years, which Cochetel called “far too little and too late.”
Britain has said it will not participate.
It is currently struggling with its own crisis as thousands of migrants seek to enter via the Channel Tunnel.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese