Kostis Papaioannou and Vassilis Papadopoulos (Europe’s top human rights job deserves better. We urge Greece to choose again, 3 November) urge the Greek government to reconsider the candidature of its minister of migration, Ioannis Mouzalas, for the post of commissioner of human rights of the Council of Europe, on the ground that he backed a deal, ie the EU-Turkey agreement of March 2016, that “led to thousands of refugees and migrants being trapped”.
As a matter of fact and contrary to the above, the Greek government considers this candidature as one of high political and moral symbolism, and for the right reasons: Greece, despite facing a perfect storm of two colliding crises – the economic one and the refugee one – has consistently treated all asylum seekers with dignity, respect and humanity, having rescued from the sea thousands of them and provided adequate care and shelter. And in doing that, Greece and Greeks were unaffected by the climate of xenophobia and racism that surged in other, richer parts of Europe.
Mr Mouzalas was a protagonist of this policy and stance, for which all Greeks feel pride. The criticism against him is a huge personal injustice for him and is based on a distorted and prejudiced misrepresentation of reality. Here is why:
• The EU-Turkey agreement is not a personal policy of Mr Mouzalas. It was an EU decision and has the unanimous support of the European commission and all 28 EU member states.
• The current human rights commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, has never objected the agreement per se, but he has asked for special care to be given for its implementation. It is exactly what the Greek government did and continues to do.
• The agreement represents the only realistic way to handle the migratory flows in a human way and in accordance with international law standards.
For all these reasons we consider that Mr Mouzalas’ candidature does not stand only for Greece, but for reason, for open Europe and all those fighting against bigotry and hate in our societies.
Prof George Katrougalos
Alternate foreign minister of Greece, responsible for European affairs
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