Greece proposes EU suspend asylum applications during crises — Cyprus Mail

Greece has proposed that the European Union create an emergency response mechanism that would allow the temporary suspension of asylum application processing during large-scale migration crises. Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris stated this in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers.

Situation in Ceuta

As Cyprus Mail reports, Plevris cited as an example the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa in July. According to Spain's estimates, more than 72,000 migrants entered the enclave at the end of July. Most of them returned, but around 10,000 people remained there, according to the source.

According to the Greek minister, in such cases the EU should strengthen border controls and suspend the processing of asylum applications. He also said that the EU migration pact had helped reduce the number of arrivals and increase the number of migrant returns, but that the existing measures were insufficient to respond to emergencies.

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Return centres

Greece, Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, known as the Group of Five, said they had coordinated concrete steps to create return centres in a country outside the EU. This is part of broader European efforts to increase the number of deportations and counter irregular migration.

Last year, Athens suspended for several months the processing of asylum applications from people arriving by sea from North Africa. Greece also adopted legislation to speed up the deportation of asylum seekers who were denied protection.