Kasselakis meets representatives of the Albanian diaspora in Greece

SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance “has never turned the migration issue into a political tool, compared with other parties in Greece,” party leader Stefanos Kasselakis said on Wednesday, “and we are proud of the responsible stance we have kept.”

The main opposition leader met at the party’s headquarters on Koumoundourou Square with representatives of the Albanian diaspora in Greece.

“We are proud of the work we did as a government to be able to facilitate the Community and be able to show that we can all contribute to our country with meritocracy,” Kasselakis said. He also criticized that government for contributing to the Albanian Community’s insecurity with the delay in renewing residence permits. “We cannot possibly speak of renewing residence permits for 3 years, when the specific application takes 2.5 years to clear. In other words, we essentially put these fellow-humans, with whom we live in the same country, through a hostage-like situation,” he asserted.

Kasselakis also said that relations between the two countries should be seen more creatively, as, for example, establishing Albanian as a foreign language of choice in Greece or Greek as such in Albania.

Albanian Diaspora in Greece spokesperson Etmond Guri said, “We were honored today to have a meeting, a historic meeting for the Albanian Community, with the SYRIZA-PA president and party deputies.” He added that “we believe it is important that SYRIZA-PA is the political agency that could, as it has in the past, contribute to our becoming equal citizens in this country, to integrate but not assimilate, as befits a democracy.”