George Stamatis in “Manifesto”: demographic issue is a national issue – Immigration does not constitute a population replacement

The need for broader political and party consensus on the demographic issue, which he describes as a “national issue”, Giorgos Stamatis stresses, speaking to Manifesto.

The New Democracy state deputy, on the occasion of his participation in the conference “Greece at a critical demographic turning point”which takes place in Ithaca from May 6 to 8, stresses that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the first to put demography on the political agenda.

In addition, Stamatis highlights the importance of adopting family-friendly measures, refers to the policies for the integration of vulnerable social groups and especially gypsies in Drosero of Xanthi, while he believes that the immigration does not constitute population replacement.

At the conferenceyou spoke aboutthe need to create a parliamentary office that will link legislative initiatives with the demographic issue. What is the rationale?

It is something that is possibly in the pipeline by the Speaker of Parliament, he had said so himself. There is a need in the Greek parliament for a demographic policy office, where all laws that are tabled should be linked to demographic policies. Since we have all acknowledged that demography is a national issue, all laws should have justifications that go hand in hand with halting infertility, reducing births and so on.

The government’s National Action Plan as a first step – and as the first country to draw it up in the European Union – was obviously in the right direction. What remains is for all these policies to be interconnected and in the end to reach the citizens.

In essence, citizens need support measures, they need more family-friendly policies. And at the same time, through the development of new jobs, to create that environment so that young people decide, they want to have not only a family and one child, but also two and three children.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ policy is so targeted that he has highlighted demography as a major issue for our country. I hope that he will have a broader party consensus because on such national issues as demographics and policies towards the family, all parties should be able to come together on a common line on specific policies.

For Greece–and other European or Balkan countries– demographics is a matter of survival. It is an issue that is not settledandin a four-year election cycle. And the South West is already seven years into government. Are you satisfied with its policies;

I think demographics and policies towards the family go beyond the constitutional life of any government. What the government and personally Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is credited with is that he created a ministry (ed: Social Cohesion and Family) that is about the family; he created a plan towards the family from the beginning and that is a start. Always in politics, in addition to measuring our policy by results, it is good to start it. We have been discussing demography for years, we have seen the decline in births since 1980, but never once has any politician, apart from Mr Mitsotakis, put it on the agenda.

And not only on the agenda as a government policy, but also as a personal commitment of the Prime Minister himself, which is good for the country. We will have to wait for the results. And I want to reiterate that such policies need broader political consensus, not only among the parties but also among society, the market world and so on. It is an issue that concerns all of us.

In countries with a demographic problem and at the same time increased migration flows, such as Greece, views on population replacement are recorded. For some this does not exist, while for others it is a matter of arithmetic: the native population is aging and not giving birth, while migrants are a younger population with more births. What do you think;

Nations don’t go away that easily. Despite the demographic downturn in our country – and not just this one – nations are not lost. Greeks have experienced very difficult times in our history. We were very few at one time, we became many at another time and we have overcome despite all the difficulties. In this regard, we need a coherent policy, which in the long term and with the appropriate funding, will address the problem. There has never been a question of replacing populations.

Greece and Europe are made, structured with specific models, with references to Christianity, Roman law and ancient Greek culture. This cannot be changed. If that changes, it obviously won’t be Europe. Obviously we are not saying no to immigrants. Immigrants are people who choose to come to our countries, live in our countries, help economic development in our countries, but that does not mean that there is some kind of population replacement.

So it is about populist voices creating problems and different stereotypes about people who have come to our country.

Are you referring to those who come here legally? Because there are many who come illegally.

For people who come illegally there are specific laws regarding asylum, refugee status, etc. Those who are entitled to asylum, refugee status or international protection, our country – as a democracy – provides it, just like other countries. For the rest who try to come through non-legal channels, the laws of deportation apply, as they do for anyone who does not enter the country through the procedure laid down by its laws.

Policies on integration: Ido you think that the Greek state over time has made substantial efforts to manage the issue? For example with the TGypsies. Is theGreek state following a coherent and strategically plannedexclusionarypolicyor limited to subsidized, piecemeal approaches? And we are talking about Greek citizens.