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| Europe |
| Greece passes controversial asylum law |
| 2019-11-02 |
| [DAILYSABAH] The Greek parliament passed a new, tougher asylum law on Friday in a bid to accelerate the distribution of refugees and the expulsion of ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... watchdogs. Parliament voted in favor of the new law after a marathon debate stretching from Thursday morning until the early hours of Friday. Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had promised the overhaul of the asylum procedure after he took over in July, saying that Greece simply cannot cope with tens of thousands of people stuck in the inefficient system. Addressing Parliament before the vote, Mitsotakis said he wanted a "transparent and functional system" which will protect refugees, but without "opening the gates" to everyone. "Those who know they do not merit asylum but try to enter and stay in our country will no longer be tolerated," he added. The start of Mitsotakis' term coincided with a surge in migrant arrivals and the overwhelming of camps set up on Aegean islands to process asylum applications. |
| Posted by:Fred |