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Greece will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song for refugees

04 February 2016 / 16:02:03  GRReporter
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Greece will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song that will affect the refugee and economic crisis. The purpose of the selection is for Athens to send a realistic message to Europe.

According to director of the Greek state television and singer by profession Dionisis Tsaknis, this year there will be no competition to select the song that will represent the country at the 61st edition of the music competition. It will be directly awarded to a so far unknown performer. Moreover, the song will be based on traditional motifs with a Balkan or Pontic sounding and will not be accompanied by dancers, a challenging performance and other effects.

"The other countries can offer these things much better than us. I mean the show on stage and the spectacular performances. Greece is not in, and is not going through, such a period at present, without this meaning that it will send to the contest a sad song. To the contrary, we will participate with an optimistic and cheering song with a Greek melody and verse. We will tell about the things the Greek people are experiencing in connection with the austerity measures and the struggle of refugees. Thus we will give a lesson in humanity to the world," said Tsaknis.

He pointed out that currently he is not able to announce the name of the singer or the band that will be assigned to represent Greece at Eurovision.

Meanwhile, the German magazine Spiegel has presented data from a secret study carried out by the Joint Analysis and Strategy Centre for Illegal Migration (GASIM),which contains sharp criticisms of the situation of refugees in Greece.

According to the Spiegel publication, a large number of asylum seekers, including many children stay in Greece in very harsh conditions. The situation in the country is described as "inhumane" and the author expresses the assessment that political motives may hide behind the concrete conditions, accounting for the fact that they actually force the refugees to leave Greece "towards other EU member states."

The report by Gasim claims that Greece has a serious problem with the lack of adequate infrastructure of reception facilities. At the same time, it points out the insufficient staff of the Greek Asylum Agency, due to which asylum granting takes months and years in many cases. The Centre describes as indicative the fact that during this time, the applicants receive no financial or material assistance. At the same time, the refusal rate for asylum applications is 75 per cent. According to the publication in the magazine, the Greek Embassy in Berlin has not provided a response to these data issues.

In parallel, Spiegel criticizes Greece in connection with the inefficient checks on arriving foreigners. The magazine cities the report of Gasim, according to which a large number of migrants from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have recently arrived in the country, presenting themselves as Iraqis or Syrians in order to obtain from the Greek authorities a certificate of registration that allows them to set off to Central Europe.

The article presents the criticism to Greece on the part of the European Commission, quoting the report that was announced in Brussels yesterday, according to which "Greece seriously ignores its obligation to control the external borders of the European Union".

 

 

Tags: SocietyMusicEurovisionGreek songRefugee crisisEconomic crisisCriticism to Greece
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