ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s new migration minister promised Tuesday to continue a “strict but fair” policy toward migration and attempts at illegal entry into the country, following a sweeping conservative reelection victory in general elections.
“We are humanitarians but not naïve,” the new minister, Dimitris Kairidis, told reporters hours after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ .
The center-right New Democracy party hammered left-wing opponents in elections Sunday for a comfortable win. It has promised to extend a wall along the Greek-Turkish border and continue rigorous patrolling in the eastern Mediterranean to stop boats carrying migrants crossing into the European Union.
Human rights groups have expressed concern over multiple reports of – also known as pushbacks – a claim that the government has denied but also refused to subject to the scrutiny of a fully independent inquiry.
The new government was sworn in days after a fishing trawler sank south of Greece with , a disaster that has focused international attention on migration in the Mediterranean.
Kairidis said his government hoped to finalize approval for an EU-wide migration agreement over the next six months when fellow EU member Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union.
