European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos visited Kos on Friday to be briefed on the volatile situation on the Aegean Sea island created by the increasing number of refugees.
A meeting was held at the town hall in the presence of both European officials with the participation of Health Minister Athanasios Dimopoulos, Alternate Citizen Protection Minister Ioannis Mouzalas, Alternate Shipping Minister Christos Zois, South Aegean regional governor Fotis Hatzidiakos and representatives of local authorities.
During the meeting Timmermans congratulated the society of Kos and the Greek people in general for their humanity and said that, “If we do not succeed in implementing a common asylum policy in Europe then we will have failed.”
On his part, Avramopoulos stated, “Europe is here today” and reassured the Greek officials that they (the European Commission) will do everything to deal with the migration problem that the islands’ communities are called to face while on a very low budget.
Avramopoulos also said that the Commission will allocate 442 million euros for the processing of the refugees and that on Kos, particularly, the action will be immediate in order to speed up identification procedures and the rapid transfer of refugees off the island in order for the local community to be decongested from thousands of refugees and migrants that arrive every day on the island.
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