by Sophia Ioannou, Head of Communications and Fundraising, in the “K” Magazine of Kathimerini Newspaper

What is unfolding today in Greece, Europe, the world community, is undoubtedly a humanitarian crisis. A crisis that is worsening instead of being solve, as it lacks the cohesion, vision, decision policy and action of the European Union. And in this crisis, the only one who manages to be on par and show solidarity is certainly civil society through its different voices and manifestations.

In this context, SolidarityNow started its activities in 2013 in Greece, through the Open Society Foundations and George Soros, who came to support the European Economic Area (EEA Grants) and the Embassy of Norway in Greece. A group led this organization, which now consistently performs work on the side of civil society. Its purpose is to meet the needs of migrant / refugee flows and our fellow citizens belonging to vulnerable groups, affected by the economic and social crises. At the same time, it contributes to the strengthening of civil society, through a re-granting system, offering financial support to institutions and ideas, in order to implement programs in times of crisis.

Read the full article here

by G. Soros,
Chairman of Soros Fund Management and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations

MUNICH – Important progress was made at the donors’ conference for Syrian refugees convened in London on February 4. But much more remains to be done. The international community is still vastly underestimating what is needed to support refugees, both inside and outside the borders of the European Union. To deal with the refugee crisis, while putting the EU’s largely unused AAA borrowing capacity to better use, requires a paradigm shift.
Rather than scraping together insufficient funds year after year, it is time to engage in “surge funding.” Spending a large amount of money up front would be far more effective than spending the same amount over several years. Frontloading the spending would allow us to address the most dangerous consequences of the crisis – including anti-immigrant sentiment in receiving countries and despondency and marginalization among refugees – more effectively. Making large initial investments would help tip the economic, political, and social dynamics away from xenophobia and disaffection, and toward constructive outcomes that benefit refugees and the recipient countries alike.
Surge funding has been used often to finance immunization campaigns. The International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm), which borrows against future government contributions to immunization programs, has raised billions of dollars over the past several years to ensure that vaccination campaigns are successful as soon as possible. In the long run, this is more effective than spending the same amount of money in yearly installments. IFFIm provides a convincing precedent for the current crisis.
A sudden large influx of refugees can cause panic that affects the general population, the authorities, and, most destructively, the refugees themselves. The panic breeds a false sense that refugees are a burden and a danger, resulting in expensive and counter-productive measures, like erecting fences and walls and concentrating refugees into camps, which in turn breeds frustration and desperation among the refugees. If the global community could fund large-scale, concentrated programs to address the problem, the general public and the refugees would be reassured.
A surge in spending is needed both in Europe and in frontline states like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The necessary investments include an overhaul of the EU’s asylum policy and improvement of its border controls. In frontline states, money is needed to provide refugees with formal employment opportunities, health care, and education. If life for refugees is made tolerable in frontline countries, and they believe that an orderly process is in place for gaining entry to Europe, they are more likely to wait their turn, rather than rushing to Europe and overwhelming the system. Similarly, if the refugee crisis can be brought under control, the panic will subside and the European public will be less prone to support anti-migrant policies.
Jordan could provide a test case. A country of 9.5 million people, it is providing refuge to 2.9 million non-citizens, including 1.265 million Syrians, and facing the influx of additional Syrians uprooted by Russian bombing. A combination of massive upfront direct financial assistance, enhanced trade preferences, and temporary debt relief is needed. A successful program for Jordan could demonstrate the international community’s ability to bring the refugee crisis under control, opening the way to similar programs for other frontline states, adjusted on a case-by-case basis, depending on local conditions.
The approach suggested here would cost more than EU member states can afford out of current budgets. A minimum of €40 billion ($45 billion) needs to be spent annually in the next 3-5 years; but even larger amounts would be justified to bring the migration crisis under control. In fact, so far, lack of adequate financing is the main obstacle to implementation of successful programs in any of the frontline countries, particularly in Turkey. While Germany has an unallocated budget surplus of €6 billion ($6.8 billion), other EU countries are running deficits. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has proposed a pan-European fuel tax, but that would demand either unanimous agreement or a coalition of the willing.
This enhances the merits of having recourse to the EU’s largely unused AAA credit. The migration crisis poses an existential threat to the EU. Indeed, with the north pitted against the south, and the east confronting the west, the EU is coming apart at the seams. When should the EU’s AAA credit be mobilized if not at a moment when the EU is in mortal danger? It is not as if there is no precedent for this approach; throughout history, governments have issued bonds in response to national emergencies.
Tapping the AAA credit of the EU, rather than taxing consumption, has the additional advantage of providing much-needed economic stimulus for Europe. The amounts involved are large enough to be of macroeconomic significance, especially as they would be spent almost immediately and produce a multiplier effect. A growing economy would make it much easier to absorb immigrants, whether refugees or economic migrants. In short, surge funding is a win-win initiative, and it must be undertaken urgently.

This article was published on Project Syndicate, 17.02.2016

by Mr. Stelios Zavvos, Chairman of the Advisory Board of SolidarityNow
the article was publish in “Kathimerini”, 14.02.2016

Recent migration flows pose an existential threat to Europe and pressure the social fabric in Greece. In Germany the population’s reactions jeopardize the Merkel government. Is the coexistence of European pluralist democracy within the growing migration flows possible? The decisions of the Council of Europe in the next few days are critical. The causes of the problem are complex and the solutions bear a heavy financial and social price.
In our modern interconnected world, there is quick information and easier movement. The growing financial inequality between countries makes population flows more attracted to the more prosperous and hospitable. The devastating war in Iraq weakened the Pax Americana in the Middle East, resulting in many local conflicts that led and still lead to increased refugee flows. A striking example is the civil war in Syria, with the involvement of all the major power players in the region. As the war continues, the population flows to Europe will increase. In addition, conflicts in Africa place a burden on the migration flows towards Europe.
The European Union has a chronic problem with refugees and economic migrants, with their social and political integration that worsened in during the euro crisis. Europe found itself unprepared regarding the recent refugee flows: both the physical infrastructure and the population for social and political integration of immigrants. The lack of a thorough political integration complicates a common understanding of the problem.
As a mitigation measure, Europe proposed the Dublin Regulation under which asylum applicants are required to register in the first host country and not in the destination country. In practice, this measure worsens the impact of the migration crisis, leading countries to adopt national chauvinist practices, unavoidable conflicts and does not promote finding pan-European solutions of cooperation of all stakeholders.
The continuing tragedy of thousands of innocent victims in the Mediterranean waters is being treated with introversion by certain states and is creating relentless questions regarding the value system and the solidarity of the European Union.
The EU is in political limbo, and does not support with the necessary resources and expertise Greece to manage population flows but targets the country and threatened it with isolation. It ignores that 40,000 immigrants entered Greece from 2014, and in 2015 exceeded 900,000. Unfortunately, unsuccessful actions from the European governments have strengthened Erdogan and have helped him to become the main regulator, to solve the migration crisis. Undoubtedly, Turkey could provide substantial help for the response to and the management of the refugee crisis of, given the EU economic benefits. But the US has a moral and geopolitical obligation to actively contribute to overcoming the crisis by accepting multiple numbers of refugees from Syria.
The historical placement of Chancellor Merkel who chose as a matter of principle to display the European ideal of solidarity for refugees, was not sufficient although it endangered its political survival in order to support the cultural values ​​that distinguish Europe through globalization. The EU’s dynamic intervention creates conditions for the development of a European asylum policy.
The lack of a common European asylum policy is leading Member States to nationalistic solutions, chauvinism, and xenophobia. It creates a sense of panic and countermeasures against the other Member States, such as threats to the expulsion of Greece from Schengen, building walls with barbed wire, seizing assets of migrants. The European Union faces a tough dilemma – it will either insist on an outdated mono-ethnic state model or it will accept diversity, where national cultures not only coexist, but survive and grow.
Three years ago, a small group of citizens with the financial assistance of the international philanthropic organization Open Society Foundations and the Norwegian government, created the philanthropic organization SolidarityNow. Its purpose is to help meet the upcoming migration flows and vulnerable groups facing the financial and social crisis. We believe that civil society should play a key role where human rights are at stake, especially where there are adequate state institutions and infrastructure. Our goal is to solve specific problems on the spot, with practical measures, while promoting policies that -in our opinion- maximize the response of society to urgent issues. We created Solidarity Centers in Athens, Thessaloniki and Centers of aid provision on the Aegean islands, while we channeled more than 15 million for vulnerable groups.
The migration problem is global and in this particular case, pan-European, so we recommend and support the implementation of an integrated, efficient asylum policy for the EU so that it takes the following practical measures:
– To place again under control of the EU the external borders in order to reduce refugee flows to manageable levels.
– To harmonize asylum policies in all Member States (identifying asylum-making criteria, access to employment, social benefits, etc.) so as to create a single asylum service.
– To establish a generous numerical target for the refugees – about one million per year – and commit to maintain this objective until all those who qualify are admitted.
– To create secure, external examination and control centers in neighboring states and elsewhere, and at the same time, those who qualify for asylum to have them wait for their turn at the temporary accommodation points. Those who leave for Europe missing their turn, will be excluded from the asylum procedure.
– The resettlement of refugees in Europe will take place on a voluntary basis through matching the aspirations of asylum seekers with the acceptance of host countries.
Migration, when safe, lawful and voluntary, is the oldest proven strategy that reduces poverty and accelerates human development. The Greek population movements in North America and Europe prove this.
The current migration crisis requires large funding from Member States, especially those with surplus, with the contribution of not just Europe, but also the international community. The wide range of this acute problem requires great and sustained political commitment for the effective management so that the refugees are not marginalized, but gradually and smoothly integrated into the social fabric. The acute crisis threatens the unfinished structures of the European Union and it would be a strategic error and irresponsibility if all European resources that are at our disposal are not used.
If Europe wants to survive, it must turn the current crisis decisively into an opportunity for long-term growth, thereby addressing the accelerating demographic deterioration, creating joint political and social integration actions, while maintaining its humanitarian values and remaining an open society. It is necessary and urgent to promote the political integration of Europe.

By George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management and of the Open Society Institute.

The leaders of the United States and the European Union are making a grievous error in thinking that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a potential ally in the fight against the Islamic State. The evidence contradicts them. Putin’s current aim is to foster the EU’s disintegration, and the best way to do so is to flood the EU with Syrian refugees.
Russian planes have been bombing the civilian population in southern Syria forcing them to flee to Jordan and Lebanon. There are now 20,000 Syrian refugees camped out in the desert awaiting admission to Jordan. A smaller number are waiting to enter Lebanon. Both groups are growing.
Russia has also launched a large-scale air attack against civilians in northern Syria. This was followed by a ground assault by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army against Aleppo, a city that used to have 2 million inhabitants. The barrel bombs caused 70,000 civilians to flee to Turkey; the ground offensive could uproot many more.
The families on the move may not stop in Turkey. German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew to Ankara on February 9 to make last-minute arrangements with the Turkish government to induce the refugees already in Turkey to prolong their stay there. She offered to airlift 200,000-300,000 Syrian refugees annually directly to Europe on the condition that Turkey prevent them from going to Greece and will accept them back if they do so.

MYTILINE, 2 February 2016 (IRIN) – Fotini Rantsiou is a volunteer aid worker and field advisor for Greek NGO, Solidarity Now. She is based on Lesvos while on a leave of absence from the UN’s emergency aid coordination body OCHA.As the Greek islands continue to receive around 2,000 migrants and refugees every day, despite treacherous winter sea conditions, many other European countries are trying to prevent their onward movement. Greece is increasingly isolated and under pressure.
Last week, the European Commission discussed the findings of an evaluation report on Greece that found serious deficiencies in its management of Europe’s external borders and rekindled a debate about whether Greece should be suspended from Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone.

If after three months “serious deficiencies persist”, Greece could face suspension from Schengen for up to two years. Not only would such a scenario have disastrous implications for Greece’s already fragile national economy – with potential impacts on tourism and the movement of goods through the Balkans – but it would also create an unprecedented humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants would be stuck here for an indefinite period.
The possibility of suspension has been vehemently denied by the EU commissioner for migration and home affairs, but last week the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, asked its humanitarian partners in Athens to start working on a contingency plan for up to 200,000 people being stranded in the country in the coming months.

To read the whole article press here.

Iorgos Karagiannis
Coordinator of the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

This article was published on Huffingtonpost, 14/01/2016

Across from Larissa Station, in the old familiar garrison, are the headquarters of a joint effort in which I was asked to contribute as Coordinator, in April 2015. This is an innovative approach combining a multitude of services (medical, legal, counseling, support and family and child counseling) under the same roof so as to relieve those who are faced, on a daily basis, with problems that were created or exacerbated by the crisis.
The Solidarity Center is not just a simple gathering of organizations and services; it is the basis of an agreement to unite the efforts of partners with extensive experience and expertise in their field, on the basis of a common reasoning that prioritizes need and the beneficiary, over the entity or the nature of the service. All this precedes and follows need. Our partners in this effort, while maintaining their autonomy and their basic principles, demonstrate a cooperation and flexibility that honors us and the needs of the people.
PRAKSIS, ARSIS, the Network for Children’s Rights, the Association “Together for Children”, act as a group in a space that belongs to the municipality and was recently reinforced with the presence of a unit of the Asylum Service that is hosted on site , targeting the most vulnerable groups. In this effort, SolidarityNow retains its supervisory and coordinating role. This holistic approach supported by Civil Society, the City and State Services, reflects the culture and the character of a unique Center that operates 12 hours a day and is open to all – prioritizing vulnerability but without excluding anyone.
In this venture, the challenges were many and were only surpassed through demonstrating genuine solidarity and teamwork among our associates, who implement the programs together. Before we got to see what inspired everyone, the multiple assistance to multiple needs, the expression of real solidarity, we had to work together with a common vision. Today, a year later, more than 200 people visit the center daily. More than 30,000 people living permanently or temporarily in Greece have received, in a year’s time, over 70,000 services.
Nevertheless, the Center was not static in terms of developments, as it participated in joint exploratory efforts for refugees and migrants last summer, during the big explosion of the refugee crisis on the Aegean islands, and incorporated new services, and opened its doors to new partnerships and ideas.
I have often found myself, personally, in efforts that require from everyone to outdo themselves for an urgent or great need, but it is not something easy. Usually, the collaborative and team spirit is not decided or planned centrally, but comes through as a unique response to a great need that unfolds. This happens in the Solidarity Center and I feel great satisfaction and gratitude to the employees of the Center for this very reason.
It seems that the original conception of the idea was correct, but eventually became successful due to those who choose, on a daily basis, to prioritize man and needs. Tense moments are rare, especially if one considers the volume of cases and the complexity of the requests – and if something does not go well, the good relationship with the beneficiaries resolves any issue.
It is obvious that our beneficiaries will continue to have the need for new approaches and programs or more help in the coming years. The responsiveness of state structures is finite and in no way commensurate with the effects of the economic crisis and the humanitarian consequences of the refugee flow, while social exclusion makes many of our fellow human beings vulnerable to taking extreme positions. Our priority is none other than to ensure the assistance provided for the future. With the same reasoning, we would also like to see a common advocacy and communication where there is a common ground with those involved in this effort, but also with entities outside the Solidarity Center. Many times, bringing about an institutional change or halting social exclusion of specific groups by promoting solutions and suggestions is as important as the actions taken. This is what we would like the Center to inspire in the coming period.
* SolidarityNow supports groups and organizations of civil society working in Greece and operates Solidarity Centers where vulnerable groups can receive free services. The Athens Solidarity Center operates with the financial support of Open Society Foundations, the EEA Norway Grants, and the Embassy of Norway in Greece and in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens.

The article published in newspaper Kathimerini on 25 December 2015.

The risk of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants being trapped in Greece naturally dominates the news and the minds of politicians. Unlike those who pass through, those who remain trapped, if numerous and desperate, will become a serious problem for the communities that harbor them; because they are here without seeking to build a new life; and because society will not invest to integrate them.

But there are also refugees who are neither trapped nor in transit. They are the ones who decide to settle in Greece, find a job and send their children to a Greek school. There is not much public discussion about them, perhaps because they are few, and perhaps because politicians do not dare to raise the issue out of fear of voters’ reactions. We have however committed to our EU partners to accept 50,000 refugees to settle here. We must do the best we can. And better yet, see it as an opportunity.
Many Greeks will probably react to the prospect of poor foreigners, of a different religion, and with strange manners, arriving in their neighborhood. They will fear the sound of foreign languages in schools, mosques hidden in warehouses, perhaps also a proliferation of beggars, or a peak in criminality. They may also say that with over one million unemployed we cannot give jobs to foreigners, and with a bankrupt state we cannot provide social benefits. Understandable fears, but we can prevent the risks; predictable economic objections, but they are wrong.

Let us think back to the 1990s. After the regime of Enver Hoxha regime collapsed, we had hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Albania arriving in Greece without any previous experience of the western way of life. We were afraid of them in the beginning; rightly so to some extent, as criminality increased. However, the biggest fears of neighborhoods being degraded, of Greeks losing jobs, and so on, were not realized. Albanians and other immigrants from Eastern Europe were generally well integrated, and they strongly supported the economy; just as Pakistanis and Bangladeshis did a few years later.  Small Greek farmers could never have imagined themselves as employers before the arrival of immigrants, nor could they cultivate as many strawberries, tomatoes and grapes as they began to produce at that time. In households, migrant women looked after the elderly and the sick, not only of the upper class, like before 1990, but also of the broad middle class. In construction, Albanians became excellent craftsmen.
Today, with high unemployment, it will be more difficult for newcomers to find jobs. This does not mean that they will displace Greeks from sought-after positions. Even now, there are needs that locals do not want to serve, while some educated Syrian refugees who own some assets could directly create additional jobs. Immigrants often complement natives in the labor market, rather than displace them; and contribute positively to GDP growth.

As for the welfare state, we should not fear that these people would become a drain on our system of benefits, as we have very few unemployment and social benefits anyway. On the other hand, we do spend a lot on pensions. Refugees will contribute positively to the pension system, as they will be working for decades before starting to collect.

Therefore, 50,000 people from Syria and Iraq should be welcome to settle in Greece. Nevertheless, a real danger exists: that these people get stacked in a few districts, in appalling conditions, forcibly changing the neighborhood, as in St. Panteleimon. To prevent this, let’s implement a proposal by the organization SolidarityNow, which deals particularly with refugees.
Disperse this population in all 325 municipalities, i.e. 150 individuals or 30 families in a medium-sized municipality. Central government, municipalities and voluntary organizations need to work together to achieve the following:
1. To locate available housing, and to subsidize the rent from the relevant EU fund;
2. To issue work permits quickly;
3. To offer language courses and job training by volunteers;
4. To provide some small financial support for 6 to 12 months;
5. To encourage people from the local community to become mentors  for each family: e.g. a woman that will introduce the mother of the family to local services; a student who will mentor and support a migrant child in school; a teacher or a social worker who will offer advice on all their needs.

If numbers in each place are small, the plan is feasible and without major organizational difficulties. All over the country there are Greeks who will want to help foreigners to reset their lives.

Unfortunately, there are also those who will react, out of fear, or racism, or for political gain.
To deal with this, we need politics in the best sense of the term. To mobilize citizens, to motivate mayors, to protect volunteers, to isolate the bigots. I hope the government and party leaders will not be afraid. I also hope that the Church will remember the manger of Bethlehem.

by Epaminondas Farmakis

Near the shores where Homer’s Odysseus was once washed up during his 20-year journey to reach his home, Ithaca, and his family, one witnesses not the white sails of victory, but an array of overloaded rubber rafts gradually creeping in, filled with colorful vests, which tightly hold the souls and the hopes of the refugees who look forward to a new, safer future in Europe. Indeed, at first sight, the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean — part of a truly untouched landscape — attracting tourists from around the globe, very much resemble the paradise-like Europe they had dreamt of.
But as the overcrowded and barely inflated rafts reach the shore, paradise for the new arrivals slowly turns into an ugly reality, not much different than Dante’s Inferno. It is here, on the islands of the Northern Aegean and Dodecanese that two of EU’s major crises meet — an extreme influx of refugees according to the UNHCR more than 720,000 so far in 2015 compared to only 40,000 last year while more than 3,500 persons many children lost their lives trying to reach the supposedly open Europe fleeing their wiped-out homelands, and the financial struggle of Greece, which is on its knees and can hardly support its own citizens facing huge piles of debt and a high unemployment rate.

To read the whole article in Huffington post USA click here.

by Sophia Ioannou,
Head of Communications & Fundraising, SolidarityNow

It was a little after 10.00 in the evening (local time) and the first sirens began to disrupt the serenity of the Montmartre suburb. This pandemonium of terrifying sounds increased as the time went by. I went online to read the first news which arrived in pieces, at a staggering speed – as result of the surprise and panic that prevailed in Paris at the time. Terrorist attacks, in different parts of the city, caused death and forced the country into a state of fear and insecurity. And at the same time, almost invisibly, and without a cause, the drama experienced by other people –namely, the refugees-, intermingled with terrorism and so the refugees became targets of certain phobic countries, thereby becoming perpetrators instead of victims.

I had just landed in Paris that morning. And I was one of fortunate ones who decided on the night of November 13 to stay in instead of walking around the decorated for Christmas Parisian streets. However, the announcement of the 136 deaths and the 352 injured, all of whom were innocent people, shocked me. The next day found Paris deserted, with empty streets, and its residents petrified by the terrorists. ISIS, which assumed the responsibility for the bloody attacks had achieved its goal: to terrorize and manifest its dominance in the heart of the United Europe. Paris still held fresh memories of the successive attacks, which took place at Charlie Hebdo, in January 2015. But now Paris was mourning the largest number of victims since World War II.
Each time an extremist Islamic attack takes place in the developed world, the issue monopolizes the news. But what about all those bloody attacks that occur in other countries of the world and whose victims are equally as innocent but are lost in silence and barely reach our newsfeeds? In 2014, most terrorist attacks occurred in Iraq (3,370), followed by Pakistan (1,821), Afghanistan (1,591) India, Nigeria and Syria.

Since 2011 Physicians for Human Rights record the war crimes in Syria, including violence against hospitals and health professionals -the vast majority of them occurring during the Assad government. Since the end of October 2015, there have been 329 attacks on health facilities in Syria where 687 people, medical and paramedical staff, died –some from the bombings targeting hospitals and ambulances, while others were shot in cold blood. More than 157 were executed or tortured to death. Just in the city of Aleppo, 95% of doctors either left the country, were arrested or killed. As with all terror attacks, these heinous acts which target citizens in an unprecedented exhibition of brutal force, was what led entire families to choose between two options: either to stay in the country and risk their lives, or to start the dangerous trip towards Europe, also risking death while pursuing the dream of a new life in peace and security.

Immediately after Paris, there were more terrorist attacks in Mali in Africa, while the regularity of life for the people in Belgium has been disrupted, as the country now finds itself in a state of emergency and at the highest alert, with tanks patrolling the streets.

These attacks became a “good pretense” for the dormant EU policies regarding the millions of desperate people, to fall back. The responsibility fell on the shoulders of the migrants and refugees. The open gates, open borders of Europe became “a threat” carrying terrorists to the heart of the EU. The climate of fear spread like thick fog, bolstering bigotry and hate speech.

I am a child of economic migrants. Yes, my parents were not forced to flee war and were not forced to leave home, loved ones and homeland in just a night. They left bankrupt, postwar Greece. They chose this road because they were free to pursue a better future for themselves and their child. Today, I feel proud that the Prime Minister of Canada, my birthplace, refuses to step back on his commitment to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, despite the fact that the country’s politicians argue that the importance of national security matters most. “We continue to be very much committed to keeping Canadians safe while we do the right thing to engage responsibly on this humanitarian crisis”, said Justin Trudeau.

We must realize that refugees throughout this scenery of terror that spreads, are also victims themselves. And right now we are faced with the failure of the EU Member States to provide migrant populations the basics in order to safeguard their fundamental rights: safe and legal passages, shelter and food. And as long as this is not the case, hundreds of thousands of people will continue to pass through stormy seas on flimsy boats, to trust traffickers with their lives, to suffer exploitation by smugglers and to walk countless kilometers in search of safety and playing Russian roulette with death, diseases and violence.

Activism by international humanitarian organizations, individual or collective local initiatives, large-scale national programs such as those developed in Greece by SolidarityNow –such as the acceleration of asylum applications and the creation of a Center for temporary stay- aiming at the immediate relief of the refugees are all great initiatives, but not enough for a coordinated response. The priority is to proceed with the registration and direct and safe resettlement of 160,000 refugees, regardless of nationality and country of origin. Regardless of whether they are refugees or migrants.

Europe must stop raising new walls with the pretext of keeping terrorism out of its borders. We have already lost precious time. We have already lost many lives. And the boats here in Greece and the islands, bring ashore scores of people on a daily basis. Others, however, are swallowed by the sea. Forever.
For how long will our civilization and ethos allow this to happen?