The Greek parliament has approved a three-month suspension of asylum applications from migrants arriving by sea from Africa, despite strong criticism from the UN refugee agency and the European High Representative for Human Rights.
The measure would suspend asylum procedures for anyone arriving by sea from North Africa, amid a sharp spike in Mediterranean crossings that has overwhelmed reception centres on the island of Crete.
Authorities on the island have struggled to provide basic services and are using makeshift facilities to house migrants, mainly from Somalia, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco.
The proposal was passed by 177 votes to 74, despite opposition from left-wing parties, who unsuccessfully challenged the measure as unconstitutional, Euronews reports.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris told MPs that up to 1,000 migrants were arriving in the country daily, describing the situation as an “invasion”.
Authorities are continuing their attempts to intercept boats south of Crete and transport the migrants directly to reception centres on the mainland.
On Thursday, more than 500 people were transferred to the port of Lavrio near Athens after being intercepted south of Crete. In a separate operation that same day, another 200 migrants were transferred to the port of Piraeus.
The extraordinary measures have drawn sharp criticism from international human rights organisations.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees expressed “deep concern”, while recognising Greece’s right to manage its borders, but stressed that control measures “must be in accordance with international and European law”.
To recall that in May this year Greece sentenced 14 Bulgarians under a GDBOP investigation for migrant smuggling to over 140 years in prison each and millions of euros in fines, according to the Bulgarian Interior Ministry’s Press Centre and Strategic Communications Directorate. The Thessaloniki Office for Combating Organised Crime reported on the outcome and thanked its Bulgarian colleagues for the joint action.
The joint investigation of the law enforcement structures of Bulgaria and Greece began at the end of 2023, and on January 11, 2024, in the city of Thessaloniki, four members of the group operating on the territory of the two countries were detained during a specialized police operation.
The operation was carried out under the coordination of Europol and within the framework of the established Task Force, as a result of whose actions several criminal networks controlling the smuggling of migrants in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey have been dismantled to date.
As a result of the trial that lasted nearly a year, all members of the criminal group, a total of 14 people, were found guilty – ten of the accused were sentenced to 140 years and 6 months in prison for each of them; for two, the sentence was set at 278 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 1,400,000 euros; for two others, the sentence was set at 266 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 1,340,000 euros. The decisions are final without appeal.
