Greece and other European Union members are in talks with African countries with a view to setting up facilities there as early as next year to which migrants refused asylum would be deported, Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said Wednesday.
Plevris’ comments came after Parliament late Tuesday approved legislation ratifying new EU rules that allow the creation of so-called return hubs outside the 27-country bloc and faster deportation processes.
Lawmakers from the governing, conservative New Democracy party backed the bill, the main opposition PASOK Socialists voted “present” while left- and right-wing opposition parties voted against.
The new EU regulations approved last week also extend detention periods, introduce entry bans and fines for non-cooperation and allow authorities to collect biometric data.
Plevris said that Greece is working with Germany, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands to create “return hubs” and discussions are being held with African and Asian countries that could potentially host them with a view to an agreement by the end of 2026. He told the state Athens-Macedonian News Agency that the Greek government “is already in negotiations with two African countries,” but provided no further detail.
The Netherlands has been in talks with Uganda on the issue.
Plevris said Wednesday that migratory flows from Turkey have become practically negligible this year, which Greek authorities have attributed to good cooperation with the Turkish Coast Guard. The main entry point now is the southern island of Crete, that has seen about half of this year’s 14,600 total nationwide arrivals.
People from the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Africa pay smugglers in eastern Libya to be ferried across to Crete in small boats, with hundreds arriving daily in recent weeks.
“Right now, the only pressure from migration is essentially on Crete,” Plevris told state ERT television, adding that only 438 people crossed from Turkey to Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands in the whole month of May – when in the past that could be the total for a single day’s arrivals by sea from the Turkish littoral.
Plevris said it is impossible to stop and turn back migrant boats half way across the Mediterranean Sea, and voiced hope that Libyan authorities could be prevailed upon to stem the flow.
“Unlike in the Aegean, in the Libyan Sea when a boat reaches open waters it can’t be deterred” from continuing and turned back, he said. “That has to be done at the point of departure, by the Libyan authorities.”
Migrants reaching Crete from Libya who do not qualify for asylum – the majority, according to Greek officials – are currently detained in a temporary center near Hania on the southern island. Local residents are protesting plans to build a second center near the city of Iraklio.
Plevris said that if necessary the government would overrule opposition to choose a spot for the planned Iraklio center.
He added that there’s been a 25% increase in voluntary repatriation requests from people detained at the Hania center, which he attributed to the fact that they are held there in detention and not allowed out.
