Greece: Europe 'left to xenophobes, extremists' if values are forgotten - Timmermans

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans argued that if the people of Europe “forget” their “values and our legal obligations vis-a-vis people who have the right to protection,” then Europe will be left to “the xenophobes, to the extremists who will destroy it," at a press conference with European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos in Kos, Friday. Timmermans asserted that Europe has to “make sure that people who have no right to asylum are quickly identified and then returned to where they came from.” He went on to say that “a Europe without borders cannot survive in the present conditions.” He called for a balance to be struck between the two ends of the spectrum, “now.” According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) figures, 124,000 migrants, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have reached Greek shores in 2015, with 50,000 people arriving in July alone.