The Alternation Minister of Migration Tasia Christodoulopoulou is preparing a legislative initiative in order to grant citizenship to second generation migrants in Greece. The draft will be submitted for discussion next week so that it may soon be voted in Parliament.
Mrs. Christodoulopoulou will take into consideration the State Council’s decision, the legislative amendment prepared by the previous government, as well as SYRIZA’s draft that was prepared when it was the main opposition party.
Additionally the government appears prepared to change the situation at the migrant detention centers across Greece. By securing 2,500 places in open hospitality centers, the government aims to develop a national strategy for unaccompanied minors, while expediting the relevant procedures for asylum seekers.
So far the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction has begun documenting migrants who enter the country illegally, while continuing to uphold the existing return policy – voluntary or compulsory.
In the recent Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting Mrs. Christodoulopoulou presented the Greek government’s main migration policy, concerns and priorities. She stressed the need for a European migration and asylum policy that will be based on the respect of human rights and the bearing and sharing of the responsibility by all EU member states, with the immediate activation of solidarity measures in receiving countries, such as Greece.
Meanwhile, the mayors of Paris, Rome and Athens have taken the initiative to present the European Commission with a common proposal on migration, within an urban development framework. The mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis recently met with his Parisian and Roman counterparts Mrs. Anne Hidalgo and Mr. Ignazio Marino respectively, to debate migration, while in French capital for a convention on the climate.
