Greece is set to further toughen laws on illegal migration, with the Greek migration minister saying that “there’s no friendly environment for illegal migrants” in the country.
Minister of migration Makis Voridis, speaking to Greece’s SKAI TV on Friday, said that in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, he will re-examine the penal code regarding illegal entry into the country in order to increase returns—whether forced or voluntary.
“We already have a strict framework in place regarding illegal migration, which we aim to make even stricter. Right now, throughout Europe, the focus of the discussion is on returns [of illegal migrants],” Voridis said, adding that “there’s one clear given, and that is to create a common European return system, which will function in addition to the national systems so that migrants will return to their countries, from where they came from.”
Regarding the recent decision by a top German court paving the way for deportations from Germany to Greece, where asylum seekers had been previously granted international protection, Voridis said that if Germany files any request for returns “we will not be very friendly to the request.”
The migration minister referred to the principle of equal distribution of asylum seekers across the European Union based on the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, saying that currently Greece, a main gateway to Europe for migrants and asylum seekers, is the second ranking EU country of the 27-member bloc facing the most pressure from migration in terms of its population.
“What returns?” Voridis said. “This affects the principles of equal distribution and European solidarity. One discussion can be the returns but the other should be that of equal distribution. The discussion should be: how can we make returns if first there’s not been an equal distribution?”
Voridis further noted that so far Greece has not received any requests from Germany to deport asylum seekers to Greece and should that happen, there are a lot of legal issues to be discussed.
German court ruling on migrants return may settle a long-standing dispute as Greece aims to toughen laws on illegal migrants
A top German court ruled that returning certain migrants to Greece, where they had been previously granted international protection status, does not violate their fundamental rights, paving the way for deportations from Germany to the Mediterranean country.
Germany’s Federal Administrative Court in the eastern city of Leipzig ruled that, despite shortcomings in Greece’s migrant reception system, single, healthy and able-bodied migrants can be deported to the country.
“Single, employable, and non-vulnerable beneficiaries of international protection are currently not threatened with degrading or inhumane living conditions upon return to Greece,” the court said in a statement. “Therefore, asylum applications from this group of persons in Germany can be rejected as inadmissible.”
The ruling came after the German court rejected the appeals of two men, a 32 year-old Somali national and another 34-year-old man born in northern Gaza whose nationality remains unclear. Both men had fled their home countries in 2017 and 2018 and traveled through Turkey before reaching Greece. There, both were granted international protection status and issued temporary residence permits.
They later moved on to Germany, and filed new asylum applications which authorities there deemed inadmissible, with deportation orders to Greece following. Their legal challenges were rejected by lower courts, which found no substantial risk of inhuman or degrading treatment upon their return to Greece.
The ruling stands in contrast to decisions by other German courts that have taken a more critical view of conditions for migrants in Greece. Due to such concerns and rulings, deportations to Greece from Germany have largely stalled in recent years.
The federal judges confirmed the assessment of the lower court. The benchmark was whether the migrants in Greece had “bed, bread and soap,” at their disposal, presiding judge Robert Keller said. He added “That’s not much—we know that. It’s a tough standard.”
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