PM Mitsotakis to new EPP MEPs: New European Commission must replace Dublin Regulation for asylum application

November 21, 2019
Written by E.Tsiliopoulos

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PM Mitsotakis to new EPP MEPs: New European Commission must replace Dublin Regulation for asylum application

Sharing the burden of migration flows and solidarity among EU countries should not remain an empty promise, but should form the core of a policy supporting countries that form the external borders of the European Union, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, at the European People's Party (EPP) congress and summit.

Addressing a panel of new EPP deputies at the European Parliament, Mitsotakis said that the situation in Greece had reached its limits. "Right now, we are receiving 500 refugees and migrants on a daily basis. The situation on the islands is very difficult," the Greek premier said in response to a question.

On another question regarding the new European Commission's basic priority, he said it should focus on what needs to be done towards a new unified asylum policy that will replace the Dublin Regulation for asylum application. (The regulation entered into force in 2013.)

According to the Migration and Home Affairs page of the European Commission, "The large-scale, uncontrolled arrival of migrants and asylum seekers has put a strain not only on many member states' asylum systems, but also on the Common European Asylum System as a whole."

The volume and concentration of arrivals, it notes, "has exposed in particular the weaknesses of the Dublin System, which establishes the member state responsible for examining an asylum application based primarily on the first point of irregular entry."

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