Follow the Greek model in immigration control.
Saturday, the second day of her trip to Greece, Valérie Pécresse leaves the island of Samos and her ultra-secure migrant camp with one conviction: to fight against European migration problems, the presidential candidate believes that Europe can to protect themselves effectively, like what is being undertaken by the authorities in Greece.
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“
What this right-wing EPP Greek government has achieved here is a model that combines both firmness, the courage to say no, to refuse residence permits in less than twenty-five days, and at the same time humanity
“, she confides, after a few hours of immersion on an island territory which was deeply marked by a wave of migration which had become dangerous and uncontrollable.
43 million euros
During the same day, the president of the Ile-de-France region was able to see the difference between two camps. On the one hand, the terrifying shantytown of Vathy, which has become sadly famous for the explosion of its traffic of all kinds, including human traffic. On the other, the new ultramodern camp of Zervouy inaugurated a few months ago thanks to the 43 million euros invested by the European Union. The "
Closed controlled access center of Samos
" is a closed reception center for refugees housing all the tools of a modern structure whose main objective is clear: to assess asylum applications under maximum conditions of hygiene and security. For Pécresse, the results of this policy are "
spectacular
".
She notes that the number of illegal immigrants in the country has gone from 80,000 to 10,000 individuals thanks to the means put in place in this area.
If the NGOs denounce the limits of this equipment in terms of human rights, they also measure the quality of the achievements by remembering the sites in which they had become accustomed to counting the tragedies.
Impressive
The Samos camp is impressive: barbed wire barriers, double walkway, watchtower, security gates, curfew at 8 p.m., weapons and alcohol prohibited, surveillance cameras, thermal cameras, drones, agents equipped with augmented reality glasses… Everything this connected to a control base located in Athens. On the site there are also four-berth bungalows with shower and toilet, playgrounds, sports fields, a canteen and meals in trays or a vaccination center. “
I support the idea that this Greek model should be duplicated in all border states. This center is quite unique in Europe
welcomes the candidate, once again praising the Vilnius conference scheduled for January 20 and 21 to demand EU funding for physical barriers to converge migratory flows towards the 2,000 authorized crossing points, provided for by the Treaty of Schengen. “
If we want to secure the borders, migrants must pass through these points. The Greek Prime Minister (Kiriakos Mitsotakis) asked us to support this request
,” insists Pécresse, explaining that similar barriers have already been erected between Greece and Turkey to prevent “
massive flows
” of migrants. “
We must support those countries that want Europe to protect its borders more
“, she adds, ready to weigh in for the creation of a strengthened alliance between the countries bordering Europe, as she had explained the day before, in Athens.
According to Valérie Pécresse, the strengthening of the European border guard agency Frontex must be the other essential pillar of the system.
She pleads for an acceleration of recruitment which would give this agency the means to better control flows by going from 3,000 to 10,000 agents, as is already planned.
“Public powerlessness”
If Valérie Pécresse insists on her subjects, it is also because she wants to drive home the point against her main target of the presidential campaign: Emmanuel Macron.
“
We wanted to put the dust under the rug, she accuses, and this is reflected in France by hundreds of slums, more or less hidden in our cities, in our regions.
Public impotence has been at its height on this migratory subject
”.
The candidate still calls for a “
regulated Europe which chooses who it welcomes and which enforces its laws and its borders
”.
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Refusing to position herself against Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen, Valérie Pécresse defends herself from any opportunism on these sovereign subjects. She knows that before playing the match against Emmanuel Macron, she will have to successfully pass the stage of a first round and a competition with two rivals evaluated between 16% and 20% of the voting intentions, but the candidate of the right claims to have defended "
for years
" this migration policy implemented today by Greece. "
When you're illegal, you have to go home
," she continues, citing the example of "
great democracies around the world
", such as the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. "
Europe is the only power that does not enforce its external borders
”, she laments, before asking for the generalization of asylum applications at the gates of Europe or in the consulates of third countries.
“
We can adopt a common logic to accept or refuse them.
No European understands why asylum application procedures are not harmonized between countries
,” concludes Valérie Pécresse, before flying back to Athens.
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