'A high number of foreign nationals involved in serious crime'

Page last updated at 08:47 GMT, Monday, July 9, 2012 - 13:47 EST

AMNA--New Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias on Sunday, speaking from Parliament, sent a clear message that the Samaras government will not allow any group to "assume" the work of police, an indirect reference to the Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) party, which has in the past been accused of vigilantism.

"Greece's democracy cannot accept either the questioning or whatever attempt to substitute Greece's security services," he said, while at the same time referring to what he called data showing "an unbelievable high number of foreign nationals involved in serious crime."

Dendias says it was a major provocation for the country to deal with illegal immigration, especially in terms of procedures for repatriation of illegal migrants. ""We are not at all satisfied with Turkey, towards which Greece has submitted 112,000 requests for repatriation (of third country nationals) but of which only 11,000 have been accepted, and of those, only 3,000 illegal migrants have been returned," he charged, referring to bureaucratic red-tape in the neighboring country on the specific matter.

He also said the government must transfer personnel to the asylum bureau and for the proper operation of migrant reception centers. Moreover, he said the government must negotiate for changes in the Dublin II treaty, described as a major problem for the country -- given that illegal migrants cannot be shared equally by EU member-states but remain congregated in Greece, after mostly illegally entering from neighboring Turkey.

According to Dendias, figures for the last two-year period show that the verified participation of foreign nationals in homicide attempts and armed robberies exceeds 51 percent. "This is an unbelievably high number of foreign nationals participating in serious crime." He further charged that an increase in violent crime increasingly violating the most private life of citizens, namely, their homes and work.

"We have 55,000 police officers. We do not need more but better policing, via a new organizational framework," he said, while noting, nevertheless, that police officers are paid very little.