Greece will temporarily suspend the processing the asylum applications of irregular migrants arriving from Africa, initially for three months, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in Parliament on Wednesday, presenting the decisions made during his meeting with Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris earlier the same day.
"I want to inform the national representation of the decisions made following a meeting with the ministers responsible for migration. This emergency situation demands emergency response measures. The Greek government has made the decision to proceed with the suspension of examining asylum applications, initially for three months, for all those that arrive in Greece from Africa by boat. All migrants that illegally enter the country will be arrested and detained," he said.
The second decision, the prime minister said, was to establish one or possibly two permanent closed detention centres for migrants on the island of Crete, while the third was to continue talks with Libya.
"I want to be clear, however: the Greek armed forces are prepared to cooperate in order to prevent boats departing from Libya or, when this is possible, to return these boats to where they set out from. Let us all be clear that the government is sending a message of determination: the passage to Greece is closing and this is a message to both traffickers and their potential clients. Our response and our stance will be legal and very severe. We will keep the national representation informed," he added.