The Greek government announced on Wednesday that it would suspend the processing of asylum applications for migrants arriving to the country by sea from Libya. This measure is to last at least three months.
This decision followed the arrival of more than 2,000 migrants to the Aegean island of Crete in recent days. This influx has led to discontent among local authorities and tourism industry representatives.
What did PM Mitsotakis say about the decision to suspend asylum applications?
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in parliament that migrants currently arriving in large numbers on the island of Crete will also be detained. Crete is one of Greece’s top travel destinations and the Greek premier’s home island.
“The road to Greece is closing… any migrants entering illegally will be arrested and detained,” Mitsotakis told parliament.
The measure was a “necessary temporary reaction” and a message “to smugglers and their potential clients”, he added.
According to the prime minister, the European Commission had been informed of his government’s plans, and new legislation would be put to a vote in the chamber on Thursday.
EU fails to discuss migration with Libya
Greece had hoped to reduce the number of migrants arriving from Africa by engaging with the authorities in Benghazi and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
On Tuesday evening, the local rulers of eastern Libya did not receive a EU delegation. A planned meeting with Libyan Arab Armed Forces representatives could not go ahead due to a “protocol issue,” said a spokesman for EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner on Wednesday.
Earlier, Brunner and the migration ministers of Greece, Malta, and Italy had met with the United Nations-recognized government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, western Libya.
In the eastern port city of Benghazi, however, the government of acting Prime Minister Osama Hammad and General Khalifa Haftar, which is not recognized internationally, refused the delegation entry.
The route from Tobruk, a harbor city in eastern Libya, to Crete is becoming one of the most important migration routes across the Mediterranean, with hundreds of migrants arriving daily.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
