Greece proposes suspending asylum requests in emergencies
Greece says the measure would speed returns and bring rapid Frontex support as EU asylum claims in the first half of the year fell 17%.
- On Thursday in Luxembourg, Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris proposed a 'Special Derogation Regime' allowing member states to temporarily suspend asylum applications during mass migration influxes, arguing current rules remain insufficient for emergencies.
- The proposal follows the late July surge in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, where over 72,000 migrants arrived, with approximately 10,000 remaining and reinforcing calls for tougher border management approaches.
- EU interior ministers also approved a new Return Regulation on Thursday, enabling member states to establish return hubs outside the bloc to facilitate deportations, with transfers planned to begin in 2027.
- The 'Group of Five'—Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Denmark—plans to identify a host country for return hubs by year-end, addressing what officials described as the 'weaponisation of migration.'
- Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Michael O'Flaherty warned that suspending asylum risks unraveling decades of human rights law, as leaders prepare to discuss emergency measures at an October 15 EU summit.
40 Articles
40 Articles
At a Council of Ministers held on Thursday, 1 October, Athens proposed to the EU Member States an "emergency mechanism" aimed at temporarily suspending the right of asylum in the event of "instrumentalisation of migration flows".
Deutsche Welle
EU ministers mull new ways to curb irregular migration
The proposals include setting up so-called return hubs outside the EU and strengthening the border agency Frontex. Greece has even proposed temporarily suspending asylum applications in emergency situations.
Greece proposes that the European Union may temporarily suspend the right to apply for asylum in the event of a massive influx of migrants or when migration is used by third countries as a hybrid threat. The measure, which would allow for the acceleration of returns, is supported by several Member States and could be included in a new European emergency mechanism.
GREECE proposed to the EU the suspension of the right to asylum in crisis situations of a mass influx of migrants. The proposal is supported by part of the members, but criticized by human rights organizations.
Greece pitches suspending EU right to asylum during migration crises
A special regime would be activated in case of a rapid increase in arrivals and migrants flows used as a hybrid threat by third countries. Several EU governments seem open to the proposal, which could feature in the Commission’s new Emergency Response.
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