Members of the EP Committee Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), participate in a exchange of views on the current situation in Greek islands in the European Parliament, in Brussels. Statements by Jan-Christoph OETJEN (RE, DE), Pietro BARTOLO (S&D, IT), Karlo RESSLER (EPP, HR), Cornelia ERNST (The Left, DE), Sophia IN'T VELD (RE, NL), and Beate GMINDER, EC Deputy Director-General in charge of the “Task Force Migration Management”.

Exchange of views on the current situation in Greek islands at LIBE Committee: extracts

Title: Exchange of views on the current situation in Greek islands - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

SOUNDBITE (English), Jan-Christoph OETJEN (RE, DE), I'm wondering why if the Greek authorities do not manage to accommodate those people in decent conditions, why the Greek authorities, the Greek government is not requesting more relocation from other member states as it is foreseen in order to provide adequate reception to asylum seekers in other countries, if the Greek authorities do not manage to do so.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Pietro BARTOLO (S&amp;D, IT), People are housed, if you can call it housing. Sometimes in tends to get carried away by the wind. We still don't have transparent news on possible contamination, lead contamination in Mavrovuni as we've heard. What's the commission doing to ensure transparency on the tests conducted in particular to guarantee there's no risk to the health of the migrants? No member state should stop dragging their feet when it comes to the responsibilities and should move to the immediate transfer of these people.

SOUNDBITE (English), Karlo RESSLER (EPP, HR), We need stronger, more efficient EU migration policy and that is something that we really have to solve urgently. We simply cannot have only ad hoc solidarity anymore, and it is crucial to be proactive in finding good solutions.

SOUNDBITE (German), Cornelia ERNST (The Left, DE), These people are under great danger that need psychological support and are not getting the care that they need. What is going to happen to those people in the future? And secondly, what about the youngest children in these camps? I want to know quite clearly what has been done about the lead pollution in the camps. In any other member state there's at least a small reference to lead pollution. Does that does that not apply to migrants?

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN&apos;T VELD (RE, NL), We have already received some information of the commission on how the 700 million euros that we allocated last year on improving the reception conditions, how that has been spent. But we only got very general information. And if I look at these images and if I see that, you know, tents have been set up in October and only in January, they start winterisation, as if the arrival of winter was a big surprise and their tents it's very basic. I would like to get a very detailed breakdown down to the last penny, how that money was spent and how it translates into the reception conditions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Beate GMINDER, EC Deputy Director-General in charge of the &#8220;Task Force Migration Management&#8221; , This is a temporary camp and it's always been said like that. It has been built in haste because it was planned to be built on that location. It hasn't been planned to be rebuilt at all like that. However, and this is something I have now witnessed for the last five months. When you speak to the local authorities, including the mayors, including the governor, there is a lot of resentment on the Greek islands for having, you know, camps available on the islands because they feel in the last five years they have been left alone by Europe and they have done their share. So if it doesn't matter to what spectrum of the political life you speak on the island, I have very clear messages. And this is one of the reasons why it's also difficult to find a good solution for quick works in this camp.

Datum događanja	27. 01. 2021.
Reference:	I201656V
Format:	16:9 format
Copyright:	© European Union
copyrightYear:	2021

Exchange of views on the current situation in Greek islands at LIBE Committee: extracts

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