BRUSSELS — Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas said that the European Commission's proposal for a new European Pact on Migration and Asylum marks a great and historic day.

Schinas was speaking late on Wednesday, addressing the conference "Greece after the pandemic."

"As was the case last May with the Recovery Fund, Europe is taking steps forward to address problems unprecedented in their scale, depth and size and especially in areas where well-known catastrophists had predicted that Europe would not succeed," he said.

Schinas stressed: "With the proposal we are making today, we are setting the parameters of a compromise, which in migration is very difficult because the priorities of the member states are different. We tried to formulate the terms of an agreement focusing on what can become acceptable. We are formulating a policy mix that reaffirms the principle that Europe will remain an asylum destination for the world's oppressed, but those who have no reason to seek EU protection should return to their countries of origin."

Today we are building a system of solidarity, which will be permanent, effective and guaranteed, he underlined and added: It is a practical, realistic system that we hope will work and which helps a lot. In the new system, everyone has something to look forward to.