The need for the Attica Region to immediately and effectively build chains of solidarity in response to the humanitarian and refugee crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, Rena Dourou noted while speaking at the Regional Council meeting. “Local and regional authorities have a duty—and are able—to contribute actively and effectively to these chains of life and solidarity,” she continued.
She called on the Patouli Administration to reactivate the Logistics Center, which it had abandoned, in order to address the current refugee crisis and the refugee phenomenon as a whole in an organized manner: “There are no blond or dark-haired refugees; solidarity is universal; it applies to all those who have been uprooted, without discrimination,” she said emphatically, addressing Regional Governor G. Patoulis.
“Solidarity and social cohesion are not a matter of public relations, a press release, or statements made on television, but a matter of initiative, organization, coordination, and implementation in collaboration with municipalities, representatives of civil society, and businesses. It is a matter of political will and strategy,” she continued.
Rena Dourou recalled the establishment in 2016 of the Logistics Center by the management of “Dynamis Zois” to receive and support refugees arriving in Attica. It was Greece’s first Center for the Management, Storage, and Supply of Essential Goods for Refugee Accommodation Sites. Its operation was enshrined in law and subsequently served as a means of support for all vulnerable social groups in our country.
“It was an exemplary, concrete example of organized solidarity.
And we didn’t say that. It was the Council of Europe, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which officially recognized it as a model of European best practice in a report, and in September 2016, the late President of the Congress, Jean-Claude Frécon, who led a delegation.”.
“The Power of Life has been raising this issue for some time now, calling on the Administration to proceed with its reopening, because the needs of our vulnerable fellow citizens have not only not disappeared, but are increasing. And now, the influx of refugees from Ukraine has been added to these needs,” emphasized R. Dourou. “So the needs have not disappeared. What has disappeared is the current administration’s interest in concrete and organized acts of solidarity.”.
