Greece is seeking a significant change in the European Union’s approach to exceptional migration crises, proposing a special mechanism that would allow tougher border measures and accelerated returns when migration flows are deliberately instrumentalized or reach extraordinary levels.
Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris, speaking to ERTnews, said Athens had presented the proposal at the latest EU Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
At the same time, Greece is moving ahead with four other European countries on another major project: the creation of return hubs in third countries outside the European Union.
According to Plevris, negotiations with potential partner countries are already advanced, with the first pilot scheme expected to begin in 2027.
Plevris: “Our main problem right now is Libya”
The minister first described how Greece’s migration map has changed.
According to figures he cited, arrivals across the Aegean during the first nine months of the year stood at approximately 6,000.
Plevris contrasted that figure with previous periods when, he said, the same number of arrivals could occur within just 10 or 15 days.
The situation at the Evros land border has also remained manageable, despite some increase compared with previous years.
The major pressure point, he said, has moved south.
“Our main problem right now is not the Aegean, it is not Evros… Our main problem is Libya.”
For Greece, that means primarily the Eastern Libya–Crete route, while Italy is more directly exposed to departures from western Libya.
The distinction matters politically because, as Plevris noted, the authorities controlling eastern Libya under Khalifa Haftar are not recognized by the European Union.
A striking change in cooperation with Turkey
Plevris also highlighted what he described as significantly improved migration cooperation with Turkey.
“Despite the tensions, we have very good cooperation with Turkey in the recent period,” he said.
According to the minister, Ankara is now policing its eastern borders more effectively and its approach is markedly different from the one Greece faced during the 2020 Evros crisis.
He nevertheless added an important qualification: Athens cannot assume that today’s cooperation is permanent, given the experience of 2020, when Greece accused Turkey of instrumentalizing migration pressure at the border.
Greece takes a new proposal to Brussels
This experience lies behind the new Greek initiative presented in Luxembourg.
Athens argues that the EU’s normal migration and asylum framework is designed primarily for manageable migration flows.
A different mechanism, Greece says, is required when a third country deliberately directs migrants towards the EU border, tolerates smuggling networks, or when arrivals suddenly reach a scale that threatens to overwhelm existing systems.
Plevris described two possible triggers:
- evidence of the instrumentalization of migration by a third country;
- a sufficiently large and rapid influx indicating a pattern of exceptional mass arrivals.
The European Commission has not yet adopted the Greek proposal as EU law. The idea remains under consideration and raises legal questions concerning access to asylum and existing European and international refugee protections.
The three pillars of Athens’ emergency mechanism
According to Plevris, the Greek proposal has three central elements.
The first would be reinforced control of the EU’s external borders, including a more active Frontex presence.
“Within the framework of international law, you will not allow entry; you will seal your borders,” the minister said.
The second is considerably more far-reaching.
Under the Greek proposal, once the emergency mechanism had been activated, people entering during that exceptional situation would face immediate return procedures rather than the ordinary asylum-processing system.
Plevris also proposed that European authorities should be able to issue the necessary travel documents rather than waiting for countries of origin to do so.
The third element would involve greater EU pressure on countries that refuse to cooperate with returns, potentially including trade measures or sanctions, according to the minister.
“We are not abandoning the Geneva Convention”
Plevris acknowledged the obvious legal concern: whether such a system would amount to abandoning Europe’s asylum obligations.
His answer was that Athens is proposing an exceptional regime for exceptional circumstances, not the abolition of the normal asylum system.
“Are we moving away from the logic of asylum under the Geneva Convention? No,” he said.
That distinction will be central to the debate in Brussels.
Under the existing EU framework, people present in an EU member state generally retain the right to lodge an asylum application and have their claim individually assessed. Critics therefore warn that blanket suspension mechanisms could conflict with refugee-law safeguards and prohibitions on collective expulsions.
Return hubs: Five countries form the core group
The second major initiative is already further advanced.
Greece, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria have formed a core group working on return hubs outside the European Union.
The five governments have agreed on the basic principles of the model and are negotiating with potential third-country partners. Greece is the only southern EU member currently participating in this five-country group.
Plevris stressed that these facilities would not process new asylum applications.
They would concern people whose asylum applications had already been rejected in Europe.
“The asylum examination takes place in Europe. Once the asylum claim has been rejected, then you try to transfer that person back to their country of origin.”
Why Africa — and why not Turkey?
Plevris said the hubs should not be located in countries sharing external borders with the EU.
That rules out Turkey under the model currently being discussed.
The objective is to avoid creating large concentrations of people immediately adjacent to Europe’s borders.
“The return hubs must be in locations that do not have external borders with Europe,” Plevris said.
Africa is therefore the principal geographical focus.
The Greek government says talks are underway with several countries, although it has not publicly identified the prospective partner that appears closest to an agreement.
One country is already close to an agreement
According to Plevris, discussions are underway with three or four countries, and negotiations with one of them have progressed substantially.
“We are discussing with three or four countries, with one of them — which we are not revealing — [being advanced]. It will be revealed in about a month, when we are ready to make the official announcements.”
No partner should therefore be treated as confirmed until the governments formally announce an agreement.
The five-country group has previously said that prospective agreements will define conditions inside the hubs, the applicable procedures and the responsibilities of participating European states.
How would the return hubs work?
Plevris argues that one of Europe’s biggest migration problems is no longer simply the number of arrivals.
It is the low rate of effective returns after asylum claims are rejected.
Even where countries of origin cooperate, identification and documentation can take months.
He used Bangladesh as an example, explaining that authorities may request biometric information and need several months to verify whether an individual is indeed their citizen.
Under the proposed system, a person whose asylum claim has been rejected could be transferred to a return hub in a cooperating third country while arrangements for final repatriation are completed.
According to the Greek proposal, these centers would operate under European standards and human-rights safeguards.
Rights organizations and legal experts have nevertheless raised concerns about return-hub schemes, including questions over detention, judicial protection and the possibility of onward transfers to unsafe countries.
The timetable: Agreement first, pilot project in 2027
Plevris provided a relatively specific timetable.
Athens expects an agreement with a partner third country by the end of 2026 or around January 2027.
A pilot program would then begin during 2027.
The Greek objective is for the system to move from pilot operation towards a broader implementation during Greece’s EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2027.
The five-country group has separately set 2027 as its target for beginning transfers to the first hubs.
What about the war involving Iran?
Plevris was also asked whether the continuing conflict involving Iran had already begun generating new migration pressure towards Greece.
His answer was that Athens has not yet detected a population movement towards Turkey capable of producing increased arrivals on the Greek islands.
Current displacement, he said, remains primarily within the countries directly affected by the conflict.
“At this moment, we do not have population movement towards Turkey… and therefore we do not have an increase in flows from the Turkish coast towards the Greek islands.”
He cautioned, however, that the major migration consequences of wars often emerge later.
From the Aegean to Libya: Greece’s migration map is changing
The interview ultimately reveals a broader shift in Athens’ migration strategy.
The Aegean is currently quieter.
Cooperation with Turkey has improved.
Evros remains under watch.
But Libya and the Central Mediterranean are emerging as the main pressure point.
At the same time, Greece is trying to move European policy in two directions: a special emergency regime for episodes of mass or instrumentalized migration, and return hubs outside EU territory for people whose asylum applications have been definitively rejected.
Neither project is fully operational yet.
The emergency mechanism still requires European negotiation and must overcome significant legal questions, while the first return-hub agreement has yet to be publicly signed.
But Athens has now placed both proposals at the center of the European migration debate — with 2027 emerging as the critical year for putting the return-hub model to the test.
Source: pagenews.gr