Crete: asylum processing suspended
Hundreds of migrants arrive on the Greek island of Crete via Libya every day. The Greek government has now decided to suspend processing of the asylum applications of refugees arriving by boat for an initial period of three months. New arrivals are to be 'arrested and detained,' Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced. In addition, a detention camp for migrants is to be set up on the island. The national press is of two minds about the initiative.
A European affair
Greece is not the only country affected, Naftemporiki stresses:
“The migrants don't want to get to Greece, but to Europe. Greece should therefore first raise the issue with the EU and demand not just measures but also sanctions for countries of origin that refuse the repatriation of their citizens, and then create truly closed structures that only make sense in conjunction with fast-track procedures for their deportation and repatriation. As Greece is a transit country, refugees and migrants should otherwise continue to their final destination without registration. If they are no longer thronging into Crete but into European cities, Europe will have to react. Just as it did in 2015.”
Inhumanity as a political strategy
News website In sees domestic political tactics at play here:
“The government's decisions on immigration are not based on the rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving, especially in Crete - our country has faced much larger influxes in the past - but primarily on the long-announced endeavour to show a truly 'right-wing face', i.e. to adopt even more of the rhetoric and practices of the far right. ... This is the result of a brand of politics that makes inhumanity a political strategy, that sees electoral gains in the suffering of people who are simply looking for a way out of poverty and war, and that promotes cannibalism as a social ethos: poor people see other poor people as a threat.”
Necessary to save tourism
News website Liberal defends the government's decision to build a detention camp on the island:
“Whatever is being built today will be destined to serve not only today's needs, but also those of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, which we must consider a given for a long time to come. Hence, the new system will benefit the island's infrastructure and economy, its residents and its tourism product. What do we want then? To keep seeing the images of hardship and disorganisation that are circulating in Europe and deterring tourists from coming?”