Minister of Immigration and Asylum Makis Voridis spoke to MEGA on Saturday morning, May 10, saying that high on the European Union’s agenda is the new regulation on migration. “The emphasis is on the return of illegal migrants, but also voluntary returns, and this gives rise to the need for a new legislative framework.”

“I think there are phases in the migration issue. SYRIZA had a different policy. The left everywhere, not only in Greece, has the view of open borders and managing integration. This was abandoned with the change of government. My predecessors had faced a situation where we had Moria, Idomeni, Erdogan’s attempt to bring in illegal immigrants en masse. My predecessors in the ND government put a lot of emphasis on being able to build a system to manage these migrant flows.”

“The urgent thing at that time was to build control centers at the entry, an efficient management of asylum applications. It’s a colossal job. Border control is a security policy. The second thing that is changing with the initiative of Kyriakos Mitsotakis is that suddenly, where it was not a matter of public debate, border control is now a matter of debate. There is now a policy of active deterrence to guard our borders. Now we are entering a third phase, which is the third phase, which all of Europe and Greece are entering, which is the return. Those who are found to be illegal must return home and this requires a more effective legislative framework.”

“Anyone who is in the country illegally must be punished and effectively, this means jail, administrative detention, which will have the possibility of suspending any execution of their sentence if they decide to leave the country voluntarily.”

As Makis Voridis said, “illegal immigrants cannot stay in Greece and the European Union.”

Referring to the violence incidents that occurred at the Athens Law School and Polytechnic City, Makis Voridis commented: “The most important thing in security issues is to be able to convince universities and rectorate authorities to act and take concrete administrative measures, which is not shocking, they have been taken all over the world.”

“The asylum is over, there is no such protection. The issue here is effective enforcement of the law. Even the incidents of violence have been reduced quite a bit in universities and the government’s aim is to zero them. To do this, administrative measures are important, one step is disciplinary sanctions.”

Finally, Makis Voridis also referred to the Tempi cycling tragedy where 57 people died and denied that the government is trying to cover up, saying the accident was a political exploitation of the opposition.

“I don’t believe that the government has done any act of cover-up. There is a wild political exploitation of the issue because of the emotional baggage that the case carries, On the contrary, I don’t know of any government that has behaved in such a transparent and integrity manner in any other case in which it has been involved. A government with a majority to refer a sitting member of the government to the special court, I do not recall any such precedent.”