The Minister of Interior, Ioannis Michelakis, presented the priorities of the Greek Presidency in relation to current EU legislative developments in the field of legal migration before the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament.

The Minister of Interior made a presentation at the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on the intentions of the Hellenic Presidency concerning the formulation of future strategic guidelines in the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) area. In particular, as far as the legal immigration of third countries citizens to the EU and their integration in European host societies is concerned, the Presidency has identified the following challenges for the future:

- developing legal migration policies that would correspond to the specific needs of Member States’ national labour markets and,

- adopting policies for fostering social cohesion in the Member States while combating racism and xenophobia.

In addition, the Presidency, as Minister Michelakis said, wishes to highlight two major challenges for the development of a comprehensive EU policy on migration and asylum in the future:

- promoting and implementing the principle of solidarity among Member States and

- enhancing EU cooperation with third countries of origin and transit of migrants.

The Minister concluded by informing the Committee that the Presidency is already reviewing Member States’ views on the aforementioned issues and hopes to contribute substantially to the formulation of future strategic guidelines for the Home Affairs area that will respond both to the Member States’ expectations and to the current challenges.