Greece’s minister of migration and asylum on Monday categorically ruled out the possibility of island regions hosting, in closed shelters or “hotspots”, transferred third country nationals that arrived in other parts of the country to request asylum or to migrate to Europe.
Minister Thanos Plevris, considered as among the “hawks” in the Mitsotakis government vis-à-vis irregular migration and migrant trafficking, spoke from the eastern Aegean Island of Lesbos (Lesvos), the hardest hit of Greece’s regions during the 2015 migration crisis.
“There is no way that our islands will accept any burden from any other parts of Greece. There will be no transfers from other islands or from the mainland, with the obvious exception of facilities for unaccompanied minors, as is the case throughout Greece, and even in these cases, to a very limited extent,”Plevris emphasized, while referring to the situation created recently on Crete.
The latest comments by the minister echo a harsher stance by the Greek government on irregular migration, as late last week Plevris and Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis – another “hawk” in the Cabinet – announced a joint ministerial decision introducing a new legal process to better determine the age of third-country or stateless individuals wherever doubts exist about their true age.
The process is activated at any stage when authorities examining an asylum application doubt an applicant’s stated age, although this procedure can only be initiated following the written consent of the applicant or their legal representative. Not accepting the process – a medical and psychological evaluation along with an x-ray of the individual’s wrist/hand to determine bone age (skeletal maturity) – does not affect the application for international protection.
“Now, whoever lies about being underage will face repercussions, and whoever rejects tests will be registered as an adult and be led to facilities for adults,” Plevris said at the time.
In early July, the Greek government announced that the process of examining third country nationals’ asylum petitions will be suspended for three months. The specific initiative, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said from Parliament’s podium, affects individuals arriving from North Africa to Greek territory aboard boats and vessels.