Prison or exit: Greek migration minister expected to continue crackdown on asylum legislation

Following last week’s news that the Greek parliament had approved a measure to suspend asylum registrations for people arriving from North Africa, the Greek government is now expected to submit a new raft of measures to public consultation, which would see rejected asylum seekers put in prison if they refuse to leave Greece, or are unable to.

According to the Greek newspaper Proto Thema, the bill, which was expected to be presented on Monday but appears to have been delayed, would introduce prison sentences of up to three years and fines up to €10,000 for people who refuse to return to their countries of origin once their asylum application is rejected. The bill would also get rid of the automatic regularisation of status people currently receive once they have been in Greece seven years, and would introduce provisions for medical testing of unaccompanied minors to verify their age.

Greece’s new migration minister

The bill is being championed by the new minister for migration and asylum, Athanasios Plevris, known to be a hard-liner on the issue. Formerly with the right-wing populist Popular Orthodox Rally party (which had links with the far-right Hellenic Front), and now a member of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party, Plevris is cut from the same cloth as his predecessor, Makis Voridis. The new bill is understood to have been prepared by Voridis before he stepped down after being implicated in a corruption scandal. Plevris took over the migration ministry in late June.

In appointing Plevris as migration minister, Prime Minister Mitsotakis is sending a “very clear message” that Greece will pursue a hard-right strategy on migration, says Greek migration policy expert Manos Moschopoulos. Though the migration ministry has limited competencies itself – with borders and detention belonging to other ministries – Moschopoulos says its typical for the migration minister to take the public lead on such matters. Plevris has done so with strident rhetoric on migration, saying Greece is being treated like a ‘hotel’ for irregular migrants, and suggesting a number of other measures, with an eye to deterring would-be asylum seekers from attempting to reach Greece. Manos Moschopoulos said there are also signs Plevris intends to revive a crackdown on migrant-supporting NGOs in Greece.

This latest flurry of asylum policy has triggered considerable criticism from the European humanitarian community as well as from closer to home. Minos Mouzourakis, a legal expert with the NGO Refugee Support Aegean compiled a list of those within Greek politics who condemned last week’s suspension of asylum, which includes Greek Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis, the Plenary of Greek Bar Associations as well as the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, which pointed out that suspension of asylum is illegal under both existing EU law and the upcoming EU Pact on Asylum and Migration. Notably missing is any condemnation from the European Commission, says Amnesty International’s Adriana Tidona.

“While the proposal is not yet public, the Greek Minister’s statements point to alarming new levels of hostility towards refugees and migrants, and build on recent asylum and return proposals that flagrantly breach international law and punish people seeking protection,” says Tidona, adding that if the proposed system resulted in automatic detention of irregular migrants, it “would be arbitrary and unlawful.”

Last week’s asylum suspension and the expected further legislation come amid an increase in irregular arrivals on the Greek island of Crete and its much smaller neighbour Gavdos.

Greece rescues hundreds of migrants over weekend off islands of Gavdos and Crete

Just under 10,000 people have arrived by boat to the islands from Libya since the beginning of 2025, a marked increase on 2024 though still considerably lower than arrivals to Greece in recent history. The reasons for the increase are not entirely clear though are likely in part attributable to more intensive interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard of people trying to reach Italy.

Greece suspends asylum application processing after mass migrant arrivals from Libya

Proponents of the strategy pursued by Plevris, and Voridis before him, argue that many of those people arriving to the islands to seek shelter – particularly from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh – would not qualify for refugee status or subsidiary protection. This raises further questions about Plevris’ strategy, however. Greece does not have arrangements with such countries for returns, and returning them to Libya is a virtual impossibility given logistical difficulties and human rights safeguards. In that light, Plevris is leaning into an approach based on the hope that people will return themselves if exposed to harsh enough conditions.

“The path from now on for illegal immigrants will be prison or exit,” said Plevris earlier in June, echoing similar comments made by his predecessor. This too raises many questions, however, namely how people would be expected to pay for their own journeys, and what is to happen to people after they have served their three-year sentence.

At the time of writing, the public consultation for the expected bill is yet to appear on the Greek government website. Following the opening of the consultation, citizens and organisations will be invited to comment on the plan before it goes to parliament for debate.

Caption: Refugees and migrants sit outside the Greek Port authority after being transported by small launch boats from a bulk carrier, at the port of Lavrio, Greece, 10 July 2025. Over 500 refugees and migrants rescued in Crete were transported overnight by a cargo ship to the port of Lavrio. EPA/YANNIS KOLESIDIS

• anti-immigration
• Greece
• immigration

Updated: July 16, 2025 - 05:48