Kyriakos Mitsotakis: No more tolerance for national concessions–First priority is the deportation of migrants

Determined not to let the rhetoric of “national concessions” fester, Kyriakos Mitsotakis appeared from Brussels, speaking in strong terms of “super-patriots” and implicitly but responding to Antonis Samaras’ new shots, even though he separated his views from the right-wing rebukes of the government, against the backdrop of the Greek-Turkish dialogue, and immigration.

Mitsotakis has recorded throughout the past period a series of statements from parties to the right of the New Democracy, but also juicy headlines from the media daily with shots at the government about foreshadowed retreats. A few days ago, as protothema.gr had written in time, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis had drawn a red line with this right-wing criticism that elevated Giorgos Gerapetritis as a “minority”, paraphrasing a statement he made in a radio interview. Now, Mitsotakis is taking the matter upon himself, and expressed his unequivocal support for George Gerapetritis, without, he said, meaning that we are against a deal.

“In a real crisis, they would be the first to put their tail between their legs,” Mitsotakis said with an intensity rather unusual for him, indicative of the prime minister’s irritation at the shots of the threatened minority. Hence the questions he raised about where the famous “super patriots” were in the case of the Evros fence, when the government extended territorial waters to the Ionian Sea, and when arming the Armed Forces. It is obvious that Mitsotakis no longer wants to leave anything unanswered, thus leaving political space for forces to the right of the Southwest.

The spike for Samaras

Mitsotakis, however, may have separated the “respected” views of Samaras from those of the “lentil patriots”, but he also made sure to make his position clear, noting that Mr. Samaras as prime minister had met with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government, with Evangelos Venizelos as foreign minister, was continuing exploratory contacts with the neighbor. A top minister put it more bluntly than the prime minister, who limited himself to a spike. “Why didn’t Samaras as prime minister talk to the Turks? Did that mean that something suspicious was cooking?” he told protothema.gr.

At the first summit of the new political season, European leaders discussed migration but remained divided on several key issues. However, there was broad agreement on the need to increase the return of migrants who are not entitled to asylum in their countries of origin. This highlights a gap in the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact, as a common return policy was not included in the discussions last spring.

One potential solution that has been proposed is Italy’s closed asylum processing center in Albania. This center, which only processes migrants rescued by Italy in international waters, has been introduced to the European discussion as an “innovative solution.” However, it does not cover those who land on Italian soil and apply for asylum there. Additionally, the capacity of these centers seems too small compared to the actual number of migrants, and there are concerns regarding compliance with European law.

Leaders have given the European Commission a political mandate to urgently explore such “out-of-the-box” solutions, as described by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. One idea under consideration is the establishment of centers outside Europe, where migrants who are not granted asylum could be taken for deportation. This, however, would require agreements with third countries. Mitsotakis has also emphasized the need to renew efforts for returns to Türkiye under the EU-Türkiye Joint Statement from 2016. This agreement has been only partially implemented, as Türkiye has not accepted deportations of migrants from Europe.