Dimitris
Avramopoulos is a Greek politician of
the conservative New Democracy party, and former career diplomat,in news now. After serving various high-level cabinet posts, including
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for National Defence, and as Mayor of
Athens, he is serving as EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and
Citizenship in the Juncker Commission since Nov 2014. The Aegean Sea also in news is an elongated embayment of the
Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e.,
between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey.
Whilst there is global
call for peaceful living, there has been crisis and more than a million migrants and refugees crossed
into Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the
influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling
people. The vast majority arrived by sea but some migrants have made their way
over land, principally via Turkey and Albania.
The trouble is because the migrants are changing the cultural practices and
have exploded violently causing trouble to the locals.
At the largest migrant
camp in Paris, just outside the Porte de La Chapelle metro station, as is
elsewhere, hundreds of migrants live in
tents. Many of them blame Europe for not giving them documentation or free
housing. The Porte de Le Chapelle migrant camp is the largest outdoor makeshift
camp in the French capital and is home to several hundred migrants, most of
whom come from African countries like Sudan, Eritrea, and Nigeria.
The European migrant
crisis, or the European refugee crisis,
began in 2015 when rising numbers of people arrived illegally in the European
Union (EU), traveling across the Mediterranean Sea or overland through
Southeast Europe. These people included not only asylum seekers, but also
encompassed various others, such as economic migrants,and some no. of hostile agents including "Islamic
State militants". The unauthorized
foreign migrants came mostly from Muslim-majority countries of regions south
and east of Europe; by religious affiliation, the majority of entrants were
Muslim (usually Sunni Muslim), with a small component of non-Muslim minorities
(including Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandeans, etc.).
The number of deaths at
sea rose to record levels in April 2015, when five boats carrying almost 2,000
migrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll
estimated at more than 1,200 people. Amid an upsurge in the number of sea
arrivals in Italy from Libya in 2014, several European Union governments
refused to fund the Italian-run rescue option Operation Mare Nostrum, which was
replaced by Frontex's Operation Triton in November 2014. In the first six
months of 2015, Greece overtook Italy as the first EU country of arrival,
becoming, in the summer 2015, the starting point of a flow of refugees and
migrants moving through Balkan countries to northern European countries, mainly
Germany and Sweden.
Since April 2015, the
European Union has struggled to cope with the crisis ~ and can you zero in on
the reasons ? - here is one many would
never think of !! -
The EU has urged China to clamp down on the sale of inflatable dinghies
which are falling into the hands of smuggling gangs and used to carry migrants
on treacherous sea journeys to Europe. Thousands
have died, often while attempting to cross the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas in
flimsy rubber boats. The EU wants China to help prevent migrants and refugees
using Chinese-made inflatable boats to get into the bloc by stopping the boats
reaching them. People smuggling has become especially deadly as traffickers are
using riskier tactics, bigger boats and less seaworthy vessels !
Speaking at a press
conference today, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU commissioner for migration,
home affairs and citizenship, said: 'China can help and support the EU in its
fight against migrant smugglers.' He added: 'The rubber boats used by smuggler
networks in the Mediterranean are fabricated somewhere in China. 'I requested
the support and cooperation from the Chinese authorities in order to track down
this business and dismantle it, because what they produce is not serving the
common good of the country. 'It is a very dangerous tool in the hands of
ruthless smugglers.'
Hundreds of thousands of
migrants have crossed into Greece from the nearby Turkish coast, hoping to head
to more prosperous European countries. But a European Union-Turkey deal reached
last year - in which those arriving on Greek islands face deportation back to
Turkey - has significantly reduced the number of people attempting to cross the
Aegean. Mr Avramopoulos said he had begun talks with
China aimed at helping to fight the smuggling networks.He met with China's
public-security minister Guo Shengkun and requested the support of the Chinese
authorities in order to track down this business and dismantle it. Brussels and Beijing are also looking to
cooperate on cybersecurity, anti-terrorism measures, organised crime,
money-laundering and drug trafficking.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
5th May 2017.