Greece has presented other EU governments with what it called its strictest plan to deter migrants and is pushing for “return hubs” outside the continent.
The country’s newly appointed migration minister, Thanos Plevris, used a meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers in Copenhagen on Tuesday to urge them to prioritize deportations and to create pre-departure holding centers to stem migrant arrivals.
He also presented Greece’s draft law on illegal immigration, which has been submitted for public consultation. The bill includes swifter asylum rejections, stricter prison terms, a reduction in benefits, and the possibility of electronic surveillance for illegal entrants.
“The new Greek legislation has aroused particular interest among ministers, as it is seen as the strictest ever submitted at EU level,” said a Greek government official, who like others quoted here spoke on condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.
“This has led to numerous requests for bilateral meetings with [Plevris] in order to better understand the new framework.”
Plevris had separate meetings with counterparts from Austria, France and Germany as well as with officials from EU border agency Frontex. Discussions focused on the need for more effective management of external borders and measures to deter arrivals.
Greece’s government said it plans to introduce “disincentives” for migrants, including reviewing the meals it offers in the camps.
“The return of illegal migrants must be our top priority,” Plevris told reporters, adding that “return hubs” in third countries should be located “not just outside the European Union, but beyond the European continent.”
According to a senior Greek official, among the countries mentioned as possible hosts for return hubs are Albania, where Italy already has a base, as well as Libya and Tunisia.
Asked how such radical solutions could be aligned with EU legislation, Plevris called it “a challenge.”
“For our own society, the flows of illegal immigrants are very large. I cannot say that we can manage it,” he said, adding that on the island of Crete “we have every day 1,000 illegal immigrants who want to reach Greece, and in Libya we have 3 million. This means that we have to find solutions within a European framework, but also within our societies.”
Some 9,000 people from Libya have arrived on Crete since the beginning of the year, almost double the number that landed on the island in the whole of 2024.
Earlier this month the Greek government suspended the processing of asylum applications for those arriving in Greece from North Africa and said it will forcibly return them, without registration, to their country of origin or provenance. The suspension is to last for three months initially.
According to another senior Greek official, neither EU ministers nor the Commission raised any objections regarding the suspension.
During a joint press conference on Tuesday, the European Commission and the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU emphasized that pushing forward a new migration regulation was at the top of their agendas.
“We are pushing for the reform of [the] asylum and migration system with the migration pact as [a] solid basis,” said EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner.
But Brunner noted the migration pact still has some “missing pieces” that need to be agreed.
“The returns regulation, which presented a review of the safe country concept, and the list of safe countries of origin are all pieces of the puzzle which definitely needed to have a good and solid ground for a better migration automation system,” he said.
Danish Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad pointed to the growing need for a coordinated returns policy within the EU. “Every day thousands of people seek asylum, but it’s only around half of the people that actually get protection,” he said. “Of the half that doesn’t get protection, only a fourth of them actually returns.”
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