Greece halts asylum applications from North African migrants

Greece has halted the processing of North African asylum applications in response to a spike in the number of migrants.

According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the conservative prime minister, boat arrivals from the area would be detained and imprisoned.

He added that Greece was “sending a message of determination… to all traffickers and all their potential customers that the money they spend may be completely wasted, because it will be difficult to reach Greece by sea.”

“This emergency situation requires emergency response measures.”

Mitsotakis added that the provisions would be based on the same legal reasoning Greece applied in 2020 to stop thousands of people from crossing the land border with Turkey.

Draft legislation will be put before parliament on Thursday.

“Clear message: stay where you are, we do not accept you,” said migration minister Thanos Plevris on X.

The announcement follows a considerable rise in migrant arrivals on the southern islands of Crete and Gavdos.

More than 2,000 migrants landed on Crete in recent days, and another 520 were rescued off its coast early on Wednesday, bringing the total number since the start of 2025 to 9,000.

This was an increase of 350% since last year, said the president of the Western Crete Coast Guard Personnel Association, Vasilis Katsikandarakis. “Immigration is suffocating us… Our personnel are literally on their knees,” he said.

According to public broadcaster ERT, authorities in Crete are under significant logistical strain as the pace and scale of arrivals continue to exceed the capacity of available accommodation infrastructure.

Several hundred people have had to be temporarily put up in a sweltering market hall, local media said, adding that among the North African migrants are 30 families with young children and infants.

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