The last thing “we should be doing is try to find ridiculous excuses when we have the biggest shipwreck in modern Greek history,” SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras noted in his interview to ALPHA TV’s main newscast on Friday evening.

Greek coast guard vessels “were right there,” he added, “and yet the ship sunk.” Now, he added, “to say that they did not ask for help, that there is no international law, that an operation cannot be carried out in international waters and then to say that an operation was carried out…instead of these contradictions I would prefer one thing, to hear an apology,” he pointed out.

Over the last four years, he added, the former New Democracy government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis “has followed a policy at sea that puts human lives at risk,” and he underlined that “the EU has a huge responsibility in this.”

Tsipras also emphasized that “we must realize Europe is moving in the wrong direction,” noting that “it must, most definitely, be our priority to guard our borders, but at the same time our values and international law require us to give priority to saving lives.”

There should be legal entry gates, so that if international law and the right of each refugee are exercised, they can request asylum and “if judged accordingly they can pass through into the country,” while at the same time “the Dublin 2 agreement must be revised, because the burden cannot be allowed to all fall on the host countries. A new pact on migration and asylum is needed,” he stressed.