Greece will impose emergency border controls and potentially suspend asylum applications if the intensifying conflict in the Middle East triggers a new wave of mass migration, the nation’s migration minister has warned.
Speaking at the Blue Heritage Summit in Thessaloniki, Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris said that while sea arrivals currently remain at "historically low" levels, Athens is prepared to trigger "force majeure" protocols.
He signaled that any renewed surge could be met with measures even stricter than the temporary asylum suspension enacted during last summer’s spike.
"If we face the levels of instrumentalization seen previously, the response will be significantly tougher," Mr. Plevris said.
He said that while arrivals from Turkey fell 60% in 2025 to roughly 21,000, a "worrying pool" of millions of displaced Sudanese and North Africans in Libya now poses the primary strategic threat.
Mr. Plevris defended the hardline stance as "humanitarian realism," arguing that Europe cannot solve global demographic challenges through population replacement.
His remarks were echoed by former Deputy Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos, who expressed "extreme satisfaction" that Greece’s push for emergency flexibility clauses has now been integrated into broader European Union policy.
Under new legislation passed in early 2026, Greece has already criminalized illegal stays with prison terms of up to five years, signaling a shift toward a deterrence-first model.
The government remains on high alert for "secondary flows" from Iran and Gaza as regional instability persists.