“I aspire, in the next four to five months, to have announced all the competitions regarding the Ministry of Shipping and the Coast Guard. I promised and gave my commitment to our fellow citizens and of course to the Prime Minister, that these will be done at the pace of AEGIS, which is the largest competitive program in Civil Protection in the history of the country. We will break the bureaucracy in the new programs. We aspire to do the same for the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Shipping, with systems for monitoring and controlling our maritime borders in the Eastern Aegean and under Crete, with 18 vessels for the Coast Guard, as well as with new technologies for digitizing the Port Authorities,” said the Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy, Vasilis Kikilias, in an interview with SKAI TV and on the show “Kalimera” with Faye Mavragani.
Asked about the migratory flows, Mr. Kikilias said that with regard to the Eastern Aegean, there is now a very large organization and cooperation with the other side in the humanitarian part with rescues but also in guarding the sea borders. As he said, “The new challenge is in an open sea, in the Libyan Sea, where unfortunately, the flows and modern smugglers have directed their activity there. You see that we have taken bold decisions and many times, tough decisions. Now, anyone who enters illegally from North Africa to Gavdos, Crete, Karpathos, etc., is obliged to understand and know that he is confined in a closed PRO.KE.KA. center or prisons, until he decides to return to his country. “It’s one thing to be a refugee, it’s another to care for wars and support people in need, unaccompanied women, children, etc., and it’s another thing to have young people between 20 and 30 years old systematically being channeled through Libya and wanting to cross into our country . “
Remaining in the same field, he emphasized that “When a state wants to protect its borders and protect its citizens, it can do so. It is not an easy story at sea. We are determined. We have maritime borders and we want to protect our cities and our islands and our maritime borders and it is our obligation and that of Europe. They are European borders, it is a common effort. The Minister, Mr. Gerapetritis, went and went again to Libya, the Minister of Immigration also went. I understand and I repeat that it is a difficult story, Libya is a broken and fragmented country. There are problems in the surrounding area, however, we have an obligation. We will serve this obligation, as we serve the country . “
Referring to the two incidents involving a disabled person and a person with heart problems that occurred in the previous days, he made it clear that the ministry’s intervention was immediate, noting that such an incident occurred on the same ship last summer. “In both incidents, either the attendant did not want to, since it was a ferry and the distance was only 35 minutes, or the crew was negligent, or the captain, etc., in any case and first of all for safety reasons, it is prohibited and not allowed for anyone to remain in a garage during a trip. Secondly, these images are unthinkable. Thirdly, these thousands of euros in fines will be paid by everyone – the company, the captain and anyone else involved in such incidents. I have explained that respect for human life and human dignity is above all. And I do not accept any discount on such matters from anyone and for any reason . “
In closing, he clarified that on large modern coastal ships, which make coastal connections to the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, etc., there are now electric lifts, elevators and all the prerequisites, while on the contrary on small ships, open ships and older small boats which mainly interconnect ferries, this possibility does not exist technologically. “Nevertheless, because a Presidential Decree is being prepared and the three of us are cooperating – E.S.A.meA, with SEEN, the Coastal Shipowners’ Federation and the Ministry of Shipping – since we announced 300 million euros and the effort to renew the coastal shipping fleet, I want to say that this is the prerequisite. It will be studied properly, since these people have the right to be the first to board a coastal ship and have their place, with easy access, but also to be the first to exit a ship. For these small boats, we will necessarily go to other types of solutions.”
