From Luxembourg: Greece Reassessing Asylum for Syrians as Conditions Change

At the caller EU Council of Interior and Migration Ministers successful Luxembourg, Greece’s Minister for Migration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris, signaled a displacement successful Greece’s attack to asylum for Syrian nationals, citing important changes successful the information concern connected the crushed successful Syria.

“Our state is already reviewing the planetary extortion presumption of Syrian citizens,” said Plevris, noting that Greece has begun the process of lifting oregon not renewing asylum for Syrians whose circumstances person changed. “The populations present facing information successful Syria are not Muslims, but Christians,” helium added, arguing that those antecedently granted asylum whitethorn nary longer look the aforesaid level of menace today.

The Council focused connected cardinal issues including voluntary returns and the EU’s upcoming Return Regulation. Plevris underlined Greece’s precedence connected some voluntary and forced returns, calling for stronger associated operations done FRONTEX and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Highlighting Greece’s home efforts, helium noted that provisions from the caller EU Return Regulation person already been incorporated into Greek law. “Our argumentation is present intelligibly reflected successful the doctrine of ‘prison oregon return,’” helium said, pointing retired that amerciable residence present carries a situation condemnation of 2 to 5 years—a argumentation that has already shown aboriginal results successful expanding returns.

Plevris besides addressed the arguable three-month suspension of asylum applications for amerciable migrants arriving from North Africa, a measurement that expired connected Tuesday. Despite criticism, helium argued it was effective: “Before the measure, successful conscionable the archetypal 10 days of July, 2,642 radical entered the country. After implementation, arrivals dropped importantly successful August and September.”

He reaffirmed that returns stay a cardinal precedence for Greece, on with enactment for a unified European migration argumentation and communal designation of instrumentality decisions crossed EU subordinate states.

On the sidelines of the Council, Plevris held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Sweden, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands to sermon existent migration challenges and EU argumentation coordination.