On Sunday 20 October, the European Communist Action held a teleconference on "The Communists of Europe against the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum". The introductory speech was given by the New Communist Party of the Netherlands. On behalf of the KKE, the speech was given by Katerina Geraki, head of the Inter-sectional Committee of the CC of the KKE on the rights of migrants and refugees. Her full contribution reads as follows:

Dear comrades,

We believe that the need to discuss the issue of refugees - immigration is very important and contributes to our joint struggle. We also want to thank the comrades from the NCPN for their introductory speech.

From the very beginning of the negotiations on the formulation of the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, the KKE has revealed their real character and warned against the reactionary content of the final text. It fought against illusions about the supposedly positive measures it would contain, such as those fostered by various self-styled left parties, which promoted the dangerous EU notions of “European solidarity”. It showed that the negotiations between the bourgeois governments of the member states were not about protecting migrants and refugees, but about sharing, coordinating and intensifying repression and brutality both among EU member states and in third countries. Besides, the same is happening now with the new discussions on the revision of the Pact in the direction of tightening the framework of deportations and increasing the policy of repression that leads to successive shipwrecks with a high death toll. One of these tragedies was the —bound to happen— deadly shipwreck off Pylos in Greece in 2023 with at least 600 dead, for which responsibility has still not been assigned and the guilty have still not been punished.

The final text truly justifies our criticism. It is an abomination sealing the breach of the Geneva Convention on Refugees, which, under a different international correlation of forces and with the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, provided a matrix of fundamental rights for refugees. The main aspects of the provisions of the Pact which, in our opinion, should be highlighted are the following:

- The promotion of modern-day slave trade agreements with third countries, in the context of the competition among bourgeois states to secure cheap labour force,  deprived of their rights, for the needs of capital, i.e. the so-called policies of “legal circular migration”. Inhumane practices of sorting and controlling the flow of refugees and migrants, in order to "welcome" those of them whom capital wants to exploit.

- Fast-track procedures for rejecting asylum applications. Neglect and removal of even the basic protection measures left due to the restrictions imposed in the name of dealing with crises and hybrid threats.

- Preventive detention, profiling, state-of-the-art surveillance and control measures, collection of biometric data even from 6-year-old children, legalization of push-backs with the participation of Frontex, which is now the largest EU organization and will soon reach 30,000 military and police personnel, and new dangerous fences.

- The continuation of the despicable confinement and concentration camps in the countries of first reception, such as Greece. This means replacing the Dublin Regulation with a mechanism of supposed “flexible solidarity” between member states.

- The extension of the unacceptable list of so-called safe countries or even supposedly safe areas in war-torn countries-zones, for mass deportations and forced repatriations of refugees, as is already happening in third countries such as Rwanda, Tunisia, Albania, etc.

- Further encouragement of the actions of NGOs and private individuals that gobble up the various EU packages.

- Billion-dollar agreements with third countries for the so-called externalization of borders, which will do the "dirty work" of the so-called containment of flows, i.e. brutal repression and barbaric refoulements, in exchange for capitalist investments for their bourgeois classes and the penetration of EU capital into them, in the context of competition with other imperialist centres such as the USA and China.

In our opinion, the communists of Europe have the task to expose the barbaric character of the new Pact and to refute the vile propaganda and ideological constructs of the bourgeois governments in a united, militant and determined way. We must stress that:

1. The new Pact of brutal repression, persecution and confinement in concentration camps is part of the war preparations of the EU and the bourgeois states, as they are all preparing for the escalation of the imperialist war. They all know that the caravans of uprooted people will increase. The figures are staggering: 56 active conflicts —the most since the Second World War— involving 92 countries, with a record number of 120 million displaced people worldwide, according to the UN.

The EU and the bourgeois governments are actively involved in the wars, supporting in various ways the murderous state of Israel in the genocide of the Palestinian people, and the massacre in Ukraine caused by NATO and capitalist Russia. They are the perpetrators of wars and refugee flows. As communists, we have the duty to contribute to the decisive rise of the struggle against war and the involvement of our countries in it.

2. The bourgeois propaganda about “illegal immigration” and “traffickers of illegal migrants” and the dilemma between "illegal” and “legal” immigration, is a phony confrontation between the bourgeois forces, whether liberal, social-democratic, green or far-right, all of which are demonstrably governing together in a number of EU countries and are implementing the anti-popular strategy of the EU and capital, with Meloni in the Italian government and Orbán in the six-month presidency of the European Council.

The uprooted are the victims of wars and capitalist barbarity. At the same time, dangerous geopolitical games are being played to their detriment. The example of the different treatment of the Ukrainian refugees, who, unlike the victims of imperialist conflicts and interventions in other countries, were rightly included in a basic framework of protection, is revealing. Why is there no specific protection framework for Palestinian refugees?

3. The main issue is the protection of the victims of war, the uprooted refugees. The borders and the security of countries are threatened by the rivalries and wars of the imperialists that are changing the borders. The slogan “The imperialists are redividing the world and redrawing the borders with the blood of the peoples” sums up the essence of the issue.

Dear comrades,

The escalation of the war will, as it seems, cause a new refugee crisis. The bourgeois staffs are preparing for this. The racist, xenophobic and fascist poison is once again being poured out to serve the interests of capital and to provoke class division among the proletarians oppressed by capitalist barbarity.

The main issue is the conflict and disobedience against the unjust and barbaric EU framework. The EU and the bourgeois governments, which are participating in and supporting the war and causing all this destruction and the waves of uprooted people, are making their own bargaining for their own interests. The first countries of reception, especially Greece, are turned into warehouses of human souls, into “sorting centres”.

We must not allow any country to become a warehouse of human souls. The relevant unacceptable provisions of the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum must not be implemented. Refugees from Germany or any other country should not be returned to the first countries of reception. Both the Schengen Agreement and the exceptions to it, such as the measures recently implemented by Germany and previously by other countries, are harmful to the people. We intensify the struggle against repression, deportations, push-backs, dangerous fences, ultra-modern surveillance and control equipment, and super-structures/prisons of NATO standards.

We demand the application of the Geneva Convention on Refugees, i.e. full protection for all victims of war, without discrimination, in the countries of their actual destination. The UN, the EU and the bourgeois governments have an obligation to ensure that asylum is granted and that refugees are allowed to move to the countries of their choice. Family reunification, with special care for unaccompanied children, must be guaranteed. Social integration programmes for refugees and migrants to guarantee their rights (housing, access to work on equal terms, access to health care, education of children in reception classes, language learning, etc.) must be developed under the responsibility of the states, without the involvement of NGOs and private individuals.

I would like to conclude my contribution with an emblematic verse by the Greek communist poet Yannis Ritsos: “We, my brother, sing to bring the people together". The proletarians, united, with the invaluable weapon of proletarian internationalism and solidarity, and the peoples that struggle have the power to intervene decisively in developments, to reverse the negative correlation of forces and to pave the way for the hopeful future of socialism, in a world without wars, exploitation and uprooting.

21.10.2024