The Greek government is proceeding with a three-month suspension of the examination of asylum applications for those migrants arriving in Greece from North Africa by boat, after the frightening increase in migration flows from Libya that "drowned" Crete. In essence, those who come from Libya to Greece will be arrested and detained.
HDN Newsroom
As Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed from the floor of the Parliament, "all immigrants who enter the country illegally will be arrested and detained".
The Greek prime minister noted that Athens intends to inform the European Commission about the legislative regulation it is proceeding with, stressing that the developments with Libya highlight the European dimension of the problem.
He added that discussions with the two authorities in Libya (the internationally recognized government of Tripoli and the government of Benghazi) are ongoing.
He said that the Greek authorities, the Navy and the Coast Guard, "are willing to cooperate with the Libyan authorities in order to prevent the departure of boats from the coasts" of the country or, in the event that these boats depart, "to return from where they started before entering international waters."
"The passage to Greece is closing," Kyriakos Mitsotakis underlined, sending "a message to all traffickers and to all their potential customers that the money they spend may be completely wasted."
"It will be much more difficult to reach Greece by sea. Our answer is legal but also much stricter. The provision will be discussed and voted on tomorrow," he concluded.
At the same time, the Greek Prime Minister referred to the creation of a closed structure in Crete "one in the first phase and possibly a second permanent one", in order to deal with the phenomenon locally.
"The direction of the Greek government is for the rescued not to disembark in Crete," Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed, referring to the incident of the new rescue on Tuesday night, with the approximately 500 migrants heading to Lavrio to be transferred to guarded structures of the Ministry of Migration.
