ATHENS – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis outlined Greece’s proposal for the effective management of uncontrolled migration at an online discussion panel organized by the Africa-Europe Foundation on Thursday.

The meeting took part ahead of the sixth European Union-African Union summit in Brussels on February 17 and 18.

To that effect, the Greek premier told the ‘Migration & Mobility’ panel that the proposed three-part plan focuses on:

– Effective border protection and combating of human trafficking

– Setting up legal, organized migration routes

– Actions to tackle root causes behind the migration outflux from Africa to Europe

“We must be clear, both European and African countries, that we must condemn in the strictest terms any attempt to use migrants for geopolitical purposes,” he pointed out.

Mitsotakis also noted that closer cooperation is needed between African countries and Europe for the return of migrants who are not eligible for asylum status. Greece, he said, is a neighbor of Africa and is linked with it through the same sea, the Mediterranean, and needs to be present in the discussion between the EU and Africa.