On the 1st of April 2016, the draft law related to the ratification of the European Union’s agreement with Turkey on the issue of refugees and immigrants was discussed and passed in the Greek parliament. All the reactionary EU decisions from September 2015 to its most recent Summit that have been co-signed to by the SYRIZA-ANEL government were integrated into Greek legislation in this way.
The European bourgeois states adjust- in a more reactionary direction- their legislation on asylum and regarding those who are entitled to international protection in line with these decisions. This is in complete contradiction to International Law regarding refugees, despite the hypocritical references to and invocations of the Geneva Convention.
The reality is that due to the decisions of the European Union, which are expressed in the specific draft law, the rights of the refugees are being trampled on, their entrapment in Greece is becoming more intense, after the closing of the borders in the north of the country. Now, over 50,000 refugees, according to official statistics, have been trapped in Greece and are attempting to survive in wretched conditions.
On Friday, the All-workers’ Militant Front (PAME) organized a rally at Propylaia in the centre of Athens and a march to Syntagma sq. in front of Parliament, at the time when the government’s draft law on refugees and immigrants was being discussed and voted on. Trade unions and organizations of the people’s movement denounced the political line of the government and EU, the imperialist organizations, their antagonisms and bargains. It is these imperialist organizations that have waged war on and uprooted thousands of people from their homelands and driven them into becoming refugees.
The MPs of the KKE, speaking in Parliament, highlighted the dangerous and reactionary character of the government’s draft law. The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, noted in his speech that the draft law is based on the decisions of the EU Summit and ratifies the wretched bargain of the EU with ruling class of Turkey. It does not solve the problem of those trapped in Greece.
It is very clear that the inhumanity will continue with the seal of approval of the SYRIZA-ANEL government. The workers and popular strata must continue to express their solidarity with these people who are trapped in the country, in light of this volatile situation. As D. Koutsoumpas stressed in his speech: “The labour and people’s movement must demand immediate relief measures to support the refugees, measures to transport them to their destination countries, in opposition to the unacceptable decisions of the EU. They must isolate the racist, fascist voices and strengthen the people’s struggle and solidarity against imperialist war and the rotten system of exploitation that causes it.”