Greece has introduced different EU governments with what it known as its strictest plan to discourage migrants and is pushing for “return hubs” exterior the continent.
The nation’s newly appointed migration minister, Thanos Plevris, used a gathering of the bloc’s inside ministers in Copenhagen on Tuesday to induce them to prioritize deportations and to create pre-departure holding facilities to stem migrant arrivals.
He additionally introduced Greece’s draft regulation on unlawful immigration, which has been submitted for public session. The invoice contains swifter asylum rejections, stricter jail phrases, a discount in advantages, and the potential of digital surveillance for unlawful entrants.
“The brand new Greek laws has aroused specific curiosity amongst ministers, as it’s seen because the strictest ever submitted at EU degree,” mentioned a Greek authorities official, who like others quoted right here spoke on situation of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the discussions.
“This has led to quite a few requests for bilateral conferences with [Plevris] so as to higher perceive the brand new framework.”
Plevris had separate conferences with counterparts from Austria, France and Germany in addition to with officers from EU border company Frontex. Discussions centered on the necessity for simpler administration of exterior borders and measures to discourage arrivals.
Greece’s authorities mentioned it plans to introduce “disincentives” for migrants, together with reviewing the meals it presents within the camps.
“The return of unlawful migrants should be our prime precedence,” Plevris informed reporters, including that “return hubs” in third international locations must be positioned “not simply exterior the European Union, however past the European continent.”
In accordance with a senior Greek official, among the many international locations talked about as doable hosts for return hubs are Albania, the place Italy already has a base, in addition to Libya and Tunisia.
Requested how such radical options may very well be aligned with EU laws, Plevris known as it “a problem.”
“For our personal society, the flows of unlawful immigrants are very giant. I can’t say that we are able to handle it,” he mentioned, including that on the island of Crete “we’ve every single day 1,000 unlawful immigrants who wish to attain Greece, and in Libya we’ve 3 million. Because of this we’ve to seek out options inside a European framework, but additionally inside our societies.”
Some 9,000 folks from Libya have arrived on Crete for the reason that starting of the yr, virtually double the quantity that landed on the island in the entire of 2024.
Earlier this month the Greek authorities suspended the processing of asylum functions for these arriving in Greece from North Africa and mentioned it is going to forcibly return them, with out registration, to their nation of origin or provenance. The suspension is to final for 3 months initially.
In accordance with one other senior Greek official, neither EU ministers nor the Fee raised any objections relating to the suspension.
Throughout a joint press convention on Tuesday, the European Fee and the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU emphasised that pushing ahead a brand new migration regulation was on the prime of their agendas.
“We’re pushing for the reform of [the] asylum and migration system with the migration pact as [a] stable foundation,” mentioned EU Commissioner for Dwelling Affairs Magnus Brunner.
However Brunner famous the migration pact nonetheless has some “lacking items” that should be agreed.
“The returns regulation, which introduced a assessment of the secure nation idea, and the listing of secure international locations of origin are all items of the puzzle which positively wanted to have a great and stable floor for a greater migration automation system,” he mentioned.
Danish Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad pointed to the rising want for a coordinated returns coverage throughout the EU. “Day-after-day hundreds of individuals search asylum, but it surely’s solely round half of the folks that really get safety,” he mentioned. “Of the half that doesn’t get safety, solely a fourth of them really returns.”