Greece urges EU emergency mechanism to suspend asylum applications during migration crises

Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Greece said on Thursday that the EU should establish an emergency mechanism to temporarily suspend asylum applications during major migration crises. Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said existing measures were insufficient to address emergencies such as the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July.

Call for emergency measures

Arriving at a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers in Luxembourg, Plevris said an EU migration pact had helped curb arrivals and increase migrant returns, but further measures were needed.

“In such cases, there should be enhanced border surveillance and suspension of asylum,” he said.

Spain estimates that more than 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta, its North African enclave, in late July. Most returned, but around 10,000 remain there.

Greece’s migration response

Greece was on the front line of the 2015–16 migration crisis, when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa crossed into Europe. Arrivals have since fallen, although the Greek Aegean islands have seen an increase in migrant boats from Libya in recent years.

Athens stopped processing asylum applications from migrants arriving by sea from North Africa for a few months last year. It also passed legislation to fast-track the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.

Plans for return hubs

Greece, Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, known as the Group of Five, said they had agreed on concrete steps towards establishing return hubs in a non-EU country.

The initiative forms part of a wider European effort to increase deportations and curb irregular migration.