Equal rights for migrant children

EU pledges to fund creation of system for processing asylum claims of undocumented immigrants

Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday told an international forum on migration in Athens that all children born to migrants from now on will automatically acquire Greek citizenship as European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot told the same gathering that Brussels was willing to fund the creation and operation of an efficient system for processing the asylum claims of thousands of migrants arriving in Greece.

“Growth and migration are inextricably linked,” Papandreou told the forum, stressing the importance of the contribution made to the Greek economy by immigrants.

Deputy Citizens’ Protection Minister Spyros Vougias provided further details yesterday in an interview with Reuters, saying authorities would grant citizenship to some 250,000 migrant children born in Greece. “It’s irrational that a child born and educated here cannot receive Greek nationality,” Vougias said. “There will be a regulation that will rectify this inequality between the children of Greeks and immigrants,” he said, adding that the measure would apply to “about 250,000 children.” It was unclear if the parents of these children would also acquire citizenship.

Meanwhile the EC’s Jacques Barrot told authorities that Brussels was aware of the particular burden being shouldered by Greece as an external EU border state and promised to pay for the creation of “a real system for examining asylum claims.” The European Commission recently sent Greece a “reasoned opinion” – the last step before legal action – over its inadequate processing of asylum claims. Barrot is today due in Ankara for talks aimed at convincing Turkish authorities to sign a deal with Frontex, the EU’s border-monitoring agency, and to agree to honor a bilateral migrant repatriation pact with Athens.