Koumoutsakos: Law enforcement is a democratic duty, not authoritarianism

"The draft law of the Citizen Protection Ministry that will soon come to the Hellenic Parliament will include, among other things, a new solid and fair asylum system for those that are eligible," Alternate Citizen Protection Minister for Migration George Koumoutsakos said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) released on Sunday.

He added that this will be achieved through the speeding up of the evaluation process which is a major obstacle to the return of asylum seekers not entitled to asylum.

Koumoutsakos underlined that law enforcement, as part of a new strategy, is not considered authoritarianism, but it is a democratic duty of a state.

Referring to the role of NGOs, he stated that "the government will proceed with a systematic registration and, above all, evaluation."

Asked about main opposition's criticism that the government is addressing the refugee issue in an authoritarian and not humanitarian way, he said: "It is hypocritical that those who created Moria and Idomeni invoke humanity, while in their days it suffered so much."

Regarding his meetings in Ankara, he noted: "The meetings were held in a good climate. They were honest and touched on all aspects of the issue. I reiterated our position, stressing the importance of the effective implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint Declaration."

Ahead of his travel to Luxembourg for the Justice and Home Affairs Council on Monday, he stressed: "With a new political situation being created, with a new Parliament and a new composition of the Commission, Greece is taking the lead in coordinating an effective European migration policy."