Migration is a challenge that demands to be properly addressed, managed, and its consequences mitigated, writes Director General of ELIAMEP, George Pagoulatos for the newspaper Kathimerini. Pagoulatos explains that the issue of migration is here to stay, since it is far more complex than the millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. It is equally linked to rapid global population growth, youth unemployment in impoverished nations, as well as the reality of climate change. Pagoulatos stresses that Greece should not depart from the framework of international humanitarian law, nor from the European one. But the European context needs to become more supportive. And Greece itself should demand more from Europe. The Director General of ELIAMEP concludes that the issue of migration must be treated calmly and dispassionately, and that neither weeping nor efforts to undermine the feelings of insecurity of those who have been forced to live side by side with thousands of desperate migrants for years will bare any results.

You can read the article in Greek here.