LONDON – Greece has a tough but fair policy on migration, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday, appearing on the UK breakfast television programme “Good Morning Britain” on ITV.

Mitsotakis noted that Greece has accepted more than 50,000 asylum applications in the last three years and that no one can accuse it of not respecting human rights.

At the same time, he added, “I have an obligation to protect our borders” and he called on Turkey to honour its own side the EU-Turkey Joint Statement of 2016.

The Greek premier confirmed anew that he will be raising the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson later on Tuesday, when the two leaders meet at Downing Street.

Regarding the management of the coronavirus pandemic, Mitsotakis said that his government has no intention to impose a lockdown for unvaccinated citizens, as Austria began doing on Monday, he added. He also noted that vaccinations in Greece have picked up pace over the last two weeks, and he encouraged Britons to start booking their 2022 holidays in Greece now.