With his meeting informal European Council which was dominated by issues of EU enlargement, fiscal review, strategic autonomy and the great “thorn” that remains the migratory, the Synod in Granada concluded today. Athens is seeking a new deal on immigration with the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to ask further support of first host countriess, but also of the states located on the external borders of the Union, i.e. Turkey. The countries of the South call for dealing with the new immigration crisis with emergency procedures while Hungary and Poland take a hard line.

The Greek prime minister reiterated the immediate need for support for the first host countries, but also for the states located on the external borders of the Union.

“We need a much more comprehensive approach and a greater activation of the entire European Union, the institutions as well as the member states, in order to support the countries that are on the external borders of the Union. (KAT) And the same to a certain extent, yes, is happening with Turkey at the moment, through a discussion in the context of the improvement of Greece-Turkey relations. So obviously this issue has an important European dimension. That is precisely why Greece will argue in favor of increasing the budget in the revision of the Multiannual Financial Program” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Granada.

At the same time, regarding migration and the additional resources that Greece wants, he said that the progress achieved in the migration and asylum pact is definitely in a positive direction. “We have an agreement at council level, we will enter the trilogue process, but it is certainly an additional tool that we will have at our disposal to deal with cases of instrumentalization of immigration like those we have seen in the past, with a relaxation of the relevant procedures for the countries of first reception”.

Disagreements in the EU on immigration

The countries of the South have expressed in all tones the need to deal with the new immigration crisis with urgent procedures” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Granada. According to the International Organization for Migration, Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus have accepted 194,000 immigrants and refugees by October compared to 112,000 all of last year” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Granada.

“I am certainly pleased with what is happening in Europe. Twenty-seven countries agree that the priority is to stop illegal immigration, starting with the protection of external borders. We must be able to implement it, and for this reason yesterday’s initiative was organized with representatives of countries outside the EU, starting with Great Britain. The first objective is to fight the networks of smugglers, but at the same time a big, serious effort must be made on the causes of migration in Africa. It is, in other words, precisely about the position of our country. It is a multi-layered and daily job,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said after the end of the informal European Council meeting.

However, there was no shortage of disagreements within the EU since Hungary and Poland expressed their disagreement preventing the adoption of a joint declaration on migration at the informal session. The move was mostly symbolic, but it leaves an air of discord.

THE Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is used to attacking Brussels, went so far as to speak of “rape” in the statements he made upon his arrival at the summit. “How can you be legally raped, forced to accept something you don’t like, how is it possible to have a compromise, an agreement? It’s impossible,” he emphasized. “We are not afraid of orders coming from Brussels and Berlin,” he said for his part Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. He also reiterated his refusal to impose a “settlement of illegal immigrants” system on his country, ten days before parliamentary elections in Poland.

“As a responsible politician, I reject the entire paragraph of the conclusions of the summit on immigration,” Morawiecki wrote on Platform X.

Mitsotakis comments on Albania and the Beleri case

In his statements regarding the enlargement of the EU, Kyriakos Mitsotakis left sharp points against Albania and its attitude towards the expatriate elected mayor of Heimarra, Fredis Beleris.

“For Greece, there are no deductions from the basic rules of the rule of law, this concerns all candidate countries, I am not photographing any country in particular. The countries themselves know that they must make the necessary effort so that at the end of the process they can claim to become a member of the European family,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, essentially “photographing” Albania.

According to what SKAI reported in the main news bulletin, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will also raise the issue of Fredis Beleris with the Prime Minister of Albania, Eddie Ramma. Also, the message that Europe will not “see” Albania if the rule of law is not respected will be conveyed by the Greek Prime Minister to Tirana at the Berlin conference on December 16.