Visit of an EP Delegation to Athens, in Greece. Meetings with Greek, European and international stakeholders and&nbsp;extracts from the Press conference by Peter NIEDERMULLER (S&amp;D,HU) , Head of the Delegation and members of the EP Delegation - Statements by Peter NIEDERMULLER (S&amp;D, HU), Head of the Delegation, Mariya GABRIEL (EPP, BG), Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), Helga STEVENS (ECR, BE), Malin BJ&Ouml;RK (GUE/NGL, SE), Laura FERRARA (EFDD, IT) and Janice ATKINSON (ENF, UK)

EU - Greece (T)

STEVENS, Helga (ECR, BE)

meeting

visit

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

migration and refugees in Europe (T)

EP delegation

ATKINSON, Janice (ENF, UK)

SIPPEL, Birgit (S&D, DE)

GABRIEL, Mariya (EPP, BG, EC)

Athens

Greece

NIEDERMÜLLER, Péter (S&D, HU)

FERRARA, Laura (NI, IT)

EP Delegation to Greece - Athens: meetings with Greek, European and international stakeholders and extracts from the press conference by Péter NIEDERMÜLLER (S&D,HU) , Head of the Delegation and members of the EP Delegation

Exterior view of the European Parliament Information office in Athens, Greece (1 shot)

Exchange of views with Medecins sans Frontieres, other NGO's, lawyers from organisations such as Greek Forum of Refugees. Speaking during the exchange of views, Mr Yonous MUHAMMADI (Greek Forum of Refugees) (7 shots).

SOUNDBITE (English), P&#233;ter NIEDERM&#220;LLER (S&amp;D, HU), Head of the Delegation, I think that we all agree that the Greek authorities need more help and more solidarity from their EU partners, including the European Parliament, in meeting these challenges. There are obviously some different views in the European Parliament on the issue of migration, and I will will shortly ask one representative of each political group to take the floor to explain their reaction to what we have seen. From my personal perspective, I feel a great solidarity towards the refugees who have fled war, persecution and discrimination, and risked their lives trying to reach the European Union, and are now trapped with no clear prospect for their future or that of their families. I think we all have a political and moral responsibility, and we need to act politically to to improve their situation and provide them with a genuine perspective for the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mariya GABRIEL (EPP, BG), There is a need for more experts. That is why here as Europeans, we need to be more proactive, as Member States need to really respect their engagements.

SOUNDBITE (English), Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), And I would like to point out that with all the criticisms that are sometimes put on Greece, I would like to underline that at least Greece is stepping up their support whilst more and more Member States are refusing to do anything in the refugee situation. They are not taking refugees, they are not giving support, they are not even paying money to other Member States and to third countries who do take refugees even though they are often much poorer than many of the European countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helga STEVENS (ECR, BE), I would like to ask the Greek government whether they are capable of securing their borders with Turkey and FYROM, and whether they will now swiftly process those stuck in the camps. I would also like to ask the Greek government to resettle thos who are genuine refugees, fairly distributed across the Member States, and to return those who should not be here.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJ&#214;RK (GUE/NGL, SE), We are making the wrong priorities at EU level, we need to abandon also the hotspot approach, in my view, this approach being promoted by the EU, is the wrong way to go. It creates more problems than it solves. We need to speed up relocation and family reunification.

SOUNDBITE (English), Laura FERRARA (EFDD, IT), The EU can't permit that a Member State becomes an enormous refugee camp. Member States have to apply better the principles enshrined in the Article 80 of the Treaty. We are talking about solidarity, we are talking about the equal distribution of the responsibility among all the Member States.

SOUNDBITE (English), Janice ATKINSON (ENF, UK), 850 million pounds of the EU's tax payers money, sorry that's euros, and they are going get 1 billion euro overall, but they can't control their borders. They've got 240 coast guards vessels, y country's got 5. We seem to manage it. And two of those vessels have actually gone down to the mediterranean.

Interior, Hellenic Parliament, Syntagma Square, Athens. EP delegation meeting with the Members of the Committee on European Affairs and Committee on Administration, Public Order and Justice (8 shots).