Europe is set to absorb massive waves of migration “for the decades to come”, the EU Commission has declared, vowing the continent will “never become a fortress”.
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos stressed that the European Commission would oppose any plans to build a fence on the Greek-Turkish border.
“We are against building fences, on the contrary, we are in favour of building bridges with neighbouring countries,” he said, after news that more than 6,100 people have entered Greece illegally over the Turkey land border so far this year — a nine-fold increase from the same period in 2017.
“The EU will never be a fortress. Migration will stay not only in Europe and the world for the decades to come, and we have to be well prepared. No country can manage this situation alone,” he told a news conference.
Discussing plans for a common EU policy which would see asylum seekers spread across the bloc, Avramopoulos said that no corner of the continent will be allowed to escape third world migration, insisting that “solidarity has to be maintained and be upheld by all member states”.
On Tuesday, the Greek commissioner was accused of “unacceptable interference” in Italian affairs amidst ongoing coalition talks after he demanded the nation’s borders stay open.
Slammed by Lega leader Matteo Salvini, who stated “now is the time” for the country to change course on migration policy, Avramopoulos later claimed he had “not wanted to interfere with national politics” but insisted Italy must continue playing its “very important role in Europe” as an entry point for the world’s migrants.
“I have no comment on the formation of the government in Italy, on the ongoing process and political dialogue in Europe, but I repeat what I said yesterday, I think that Italy will continue on the road travelled until now on all issues,” he said.
“Italy is one of the founding countries of the EU and I am sure that Italians are committed to this European perspective and we are fully confident in President Mattarella, in the Constitution and in the Italian Republic,” added the globalist Greek.
With populist, anti-mass migration Lega and the anti-establishment Five Star Alliance party in talks about forming a government which commentators have said would “terrify” Brussels, Avramopoulos’s confidence over the “European perspective” winning out may sound worrying to Italians tired of EU interference in the country’s politics.
The bloc previously toppled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for failing to make reforms demanded by Brussels in 2011, when they parachuted in EU former Commissioner Mario Monti to take his place days after pulling off a coup in Greece along very similar lines.
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