Parliament: The bill for the memorandum of cooperation with Bangladesh was passed

With a large majority (ND, SYRIZA-PS and PASOK-KINAL) the Plenary passed the bill for the Ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Hellenic Republic and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, which provides for cooperation between the two parties in terms of the implementation of the Standardized of Operating Procedures between Bangladesh and the EU for the readmission of its citizens Bangladesh.

Now, that is, the process of direct returns to Bangladesh, at the request of our country, becomes more immediate and has an inextricably binding character. With the Memorandumour country will allocate 4,000 per year, residence permits for the next five years, to Bangladeshi citizens who have a seasonal work contract with employers in Greece (that is, they come with a specific job).

This permit allows up to nine months of stay per year, does not lead to permanent residence status, nor does it give the right to later access to citizenship, and after five years they will be forced to return to their country. Transitionally, 15,000 Bangladeshi citizens currently residing in Greece will also be allowed to join the seasonal work permit regime. In this case, on the one hand, they should stay up to nine months per year, and on the other hand, follow the procedures provided for this residence permit and at the end of the five years they will also return to their country.

The main objective is the fight against illegal immigration

“The government’s main policy choice is to fight illegal immigration, implementing a strict but fair immigration policy. A policy that already brings tangible and measurable results, since the flows in 2021 were the lowest of the decade, at 8,745 and this year it looks like they will be the second lowest of the decade and despite the pressures, the inhabitants of the islands have decreased to 2,370 from 41,000 and the structures in 34 out of 121” said the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis. He pointed out that at the moment, the Greek economy has real needs in human resources, especially in the agricultural sector, but also in other sectors, such as domestic work, tourism and construction. However, he explained that the recruitment of human resources must be done by rules, legally and not by smuggling rings and “with this Memorandum on migration and mobility, we take another step in the context of the holistic approach to legal migration and its utilization for the needs of the country in manpower”.

Focusing on the legislative initiatives, which work as a single framework, he mentioned the introduction of a new type of residence permit for third-country nationals to provide seasonal work from one to five years, which achieves a reduction in bureaucracy, as it will not be necessary to issue each year a new national visa for seasonal work, concerning the same person, for the convenience of both the farmers and the Greek consular authorities.

As the responsible minister informed, the entire existing legal framework for legal immigration is being reviewed in general, with the aim of a new Immigration Code within 2022 and he emphasized that there is a clear limit to the total number of permits issued. The total number of each type of residence permit for work is determined by article 11 of Law 4251/14, with a decree of all the co-competent ministries. In other words, the maximum number of positions for dependent work granted to citizens of third countries, per Region and employment specialty, is determined. The Public Employment Service foresees 62,000 permanent jobs and 112,000 seasonal jobs, a total of 174,000 jobs, of which 165,000 are in the agricultural sector.

The goal of bilateral relations

“With the bilateral agreements, our goal is, on the one hand, to define limits for workers from each country, and on the other hand, to actively cooperate in the fight against illegal immigration. We are creating a holistic framework for immigration reconciliation, with key components being a strict but fair policy of guarding our borders and our national sovereignty, but also the organized, orderly way in which we open our country’s doors to investment and potential workforce. A new immigration model that sets a precedent as a good practice for EU member states to take advantage of. In this way, we set the rules, create a Skills Charter for the labor market and gradually eliminate the causes of illegal immigration. In Immigration, our country has a plan and the will to implement it, drawing on valuable experience and know-how from previous years and always with the interest of the Greek citizens in mind”, Mr. Mitarakis concluded.

The SYRIZA rapporteur, Giorgos Psychogios, although he voted in favor of the ratification of the Memorandum, stated that it is an Agreement that is not made in a vacuum, but is a “tree” in a “forest” of an anti-immigration and anti-refugee policy implemented by the government, with cuts to asylum rights, material reception conditions, deterrence policies at the borders, but also inland. He argued that this is happening with deportations or detention centers – where people are currently administratively detained for eighteen and thirty-six months -, with cuts to citizenship – which is an elusive dream for thousands of people who have been in the country for decades -, with the deforestation and obsolescence of the services -which will be called upon to implement the specific agreement without personnel and means-, with the labor services -which are being degraded for Greek and foreign workers-, with the repression and with a huge issue that the government has created, “because”, as he said, “all these years you have done nothing to fulfill the needs of both the producers and the workers themselves, mainly in the region and the province with agricultural products, but also other services”.

However, taking into account the fact that, even a little, even belatedly, even with implementation problems, without basic rights beyond labor to be guaranteed, some people will get legal residence, presence and work in the country and will no longer be ” invisible”, but also with the fact that this also serves the needs of producers who want to make ends meet for their crops – but, this must be done with conditions and rules and dignity – he explained that SYRIZA defined its position on the specific bill , which, he emphasized, also has positives, “but it is done within a context which is extremely negative and creates great reservations as to whether it will be implemented and how it will be implemented in practice”.

On behalf of the KKE, Giorgos Lambroulis, emphasized that the bilateral agreement between Greece and Bangladesh is an emblematic example of the EU direction for so-called “orderly migration”, which the KKE characterizes as a modern slave market, since it legalizes unacceptable , inhumane and shocking working conditions of thousands of migrant land workers in Greece. At the same time, as the expert buyer of the KKE said, it shows the common strategic understanding of all parties and their commitment to the EU policy on immigration and asylum, which forms the conditions for the selection of the appropriate workforce for the needs of the monopolies, of the chapter and encourages the signing of bilateral agreements by member states with third countries on so-called “legal immigration”.

“It becomes clear that the main criterion for the formation of this agreement is not the rights of immigrant workers who are an integral part of the working class in our country. Thus, in the name of meeting the needs of the Greek economy with seasonal workers, capital finds the cheapest labor, without rights, with temporary permits and under the permanent threat of deportation, according to its needs. That is why the agreement mentions the temporary nature of residence permits, the forced return of workers after the end of five years and their deportation in case of non-compliance, the lack of the right to family reunification or the establishment of a right to long-term residence or naturalization.

In the agreement, however, there is no word about a decent salary, about working hours, about working and living conditions. In fact, the fact that the seasonal permits will only be given if there is a need from the producers, proves the opening-closing of the “faucet” in the immigrant-refugee, depending on the interests and needs of the capital”, he also said.

“The fact that there are no land workers is your fault, because you have dismantled the agricultural sector, primary production and you treat it as if it were a hair in the dough, instead of primary production being your first concept and supporting these people and subsidizing even the Greek children to go to work. This is what a national government that cares about its people should do. This he would do and not bring from Bangladesh at a time when the world is starving and cannot cope, to bring fifteen and twenty thousand abroad. We emphasize the need to preserve our language, our religion, our rich history and the tradition of our country. You are in favor of multiculturalism and the alteration of our national identity”, said Konstantinos Chitas from the Hellenic Solution.

“You forget, gentlemen of the government, to tell us what the people of the Bangladeshi community that we met also told us, that the government with which you co-signed this Memorandum is a government characterized by authoritarianism, violence and corruption, a government that tries to control migration flows, not to see what is happening internally or to have a better control, but only to be able to reap multiple benefits from its citizens who wish to migrate in search of work” underlined Fotini on behalf of MeRA25 Bakadima. She added that her party will be against any such operation of exploiting people and violating their rights.

RES-EMP

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