Berlin, November 27, 2015
“The European Union should take responsibility for refugees,” Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece said at the Evangelical Academy of Berlin, reports Romfea.
The archbishop has noted that Greece is currently undergoing a double crisis. On one side are the economic problems, and on the other side is the migration crisis.
“The refugee issue is a very difficult one,” said Archbishop Ieronymos and added that, “the problem does not confine itself to satisfying the immediate needs of migrants and their integration into the society of European Union. The Western world is responsible for the emergence of the refugee issue. Europe must realize this responsibility and do its best to remove the reasons that caused this problem. Otherwise, it will become permanent and impossible to solve.” The hierarch has also stressed that, “Greece is deeply concerned about the refugee issue, especially when we see some European states building walls at their frontiers in order to check the influx of refugees.” As a result, the refugees, who are unable or do not wish to return home, end up staying in the Balkan states.
“Unless conditions for life in their native countries are created, many of the refugees will be blocked in the Balkans. As a result, the Balkans will become a powder keg,” the primate of the Church of Greece has warned.
“Those who initiated this crisis must struggle with it,” said the archbishop elsewhere in his speech and added that, “the problem is confusing and many-sided, and can only be solved interactively by the states, Churches, and all parties concerned. International cooperation is needed so that refugees can stay in the countries where they were born.”
Speaking of the European idea, the archbishop has noted that, “Europe should become a union of mutual support and common values, rather than a coalition of wealthy nations.”
