Government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis on Sunday called for action concerning dangerous refugee and migrant crossings in the Mediterranean following the tragic shipwreck claiming hundreds of lives in the waters south of Italy.

In a written announcement, he stated

“The new sacrifice of refugees off Lampedusa is of shock to us all. The Mediterranean, from a seaway for cultures is converted to a watery grave for thousands of souls attempting to flee the flames of war.

In these crucial hours, when along with the lives we risk also losing our humanity, action is demanded and not fine words. The European Union has an obligation to immediately undertake its responsibilities toward – chiefly – the waves of desperate refugees but also the European countries of the Mediterranean that receive them.

Sakellaridis attacked the stand that opposition parties have shown on migrant issues. He said that the latest tragedy shows the fallacy of their recent claims that the Radical Left Coalition government is somehow responsible for the wave of refugees.”