Speaking on Mega, the far-right minister dehumanised those arriving in Greece. “Those who are denied asylum are not from war zones and they are not even devastated people,” he said, claiming that they receive “a lot of benefits” and that until now Greece has welcomed them “with flowers”.
Once again, Plevris portrayed basic rights as “privileges” and announced that “we are cutting off all their privileges and criminalising illegal stay”, threatening imprisonment and deportation. It should be recalled that the government recently passed an amendment suspending asylum applications – a move condemned by humanitarian organisations and international bodies as a dangerous violation of international law and a breach of fundamental rights.
“Not only persecuted people come to Greece, they also come spoiled,” he insisted, repeating that the government would not allow Greece to become a country with “open borders” or one that welcomes those entering “with flowers”. He added that a bill will be introduced at the end of August for the return of those whose asylum claims are rejected.
Distorting the distinction between victim and perpetrator in the context of migration, Plevris claimed that the logic of integration is changing because “they cannot live permanently at the expense of Greek taxpayers. The amendment to the three-month suspension of asylum put the rights of third-country citizens to seek asylum on the same scale as the rights of Greeks, who cannot watch boats arriving and their government not reacting”.
He went on to argue that there are “many programmes for those who are taking asylum now and they are trying to integrate them (…) Rent allowances, living allowances. Little by little, the shift must be made elsewhere. The allowances stop, you teach the asylum seeker skills and let them go to work”.
“The logic is now slowly becoming that ‘sir, as soon as you take asylum here, you won’t have a load of allowances. Little by little, you will have to learn something, learn Greek, learn a job, go to work, so that you don’t live at the expense of the taxpayers who made sure you took asylum because you come from a war zone’,” he concluded during his racist crescendo.
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