Greece suspends asylum applications for North African migrants
The announcement came a day after EU's migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya and declared persona non grata by the Benghazi-based government ahead of a scheduled meeting on migration.
"With legislation that will be submitted to the parliament tomorrow, Greece will suspend the examination of asylum applications, initially for three months, for those arriving in Greece from North Africa by sea," Mitsotakis told parliament.
He added that he intended to return to Libya all migrants who entered Greece "illegally".
Sea arrivals of migrants travelling from northeastern Libya to Greece's southern islands of Crete and Gavdos have surged to more than 7,300 this year, according to estimates by the Greek government and aid agencies. That compares with around 5,000 in the whole of 2024.
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