“A bold intervention is needed at the administrative level, so that Greece can have a modern mechanism for legal immigration, with conditions and rules that are fast and effective and will ensure the legalisation of illegal immigrants.
As the days go by, the Greek government’s plans on the immigration issue are being revealed as what was once heard as a grandstanding appears to be taking shape, with the ministry in charge, preparing to legalise thousands of migrants in order to address the shortage of labour.
The architect of this proposal is Dimitris Kairidis, who, citing political realism, seems to be seriously considering the scenario of permanent legalisation of thousands of illegal migrants in the country. “Greece must invest in the legal migration mechanism,” Dimitris Kairidis said, adding: “Let’s be honest and say that from a certain point onwards only the seasonal mechanism will not work, the idea that the other person will come, stay for a few months, acquire no rights, no roots in the country and leave and come back won’t work. We have to be realistic about how the market really works, based on the European experience, and we have to talk about conditional work and talk about a number of other issues.”
Mr. Kairidis said that the ministry is in constant consultation with the relevant ministries in order to soon have a “comprehensive package of legislation, organizational and administrative interventions”, stressing that today there is no such thing. “It is a system which is proving in practice today to be dysfunctional, understaffed, fragmented, and often uncoordinated. A bold intervention is needed at the administrative level, so that the country can have a modern mechanism of calculated legal migration, with conditions and rules, fast and effective he said.
It is worth remembering that both Lefteris Avgenakis and Dimitris Kairidis had long “testified” to the existence of this plan, but after the reactions they were forced to back out.
