Greece's Migration Ministry is drafting a comprehensive plan to address cases of mass, weaponized migratory pressure, Greek state news agency ANA-MPA reported, after Athens's push for a dedicated European mechanism to counter such pressure found direct echo in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address earlier this week..
The Greek initiative traces back to an August 4 op-ed in Politico by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who argued Europe's security environment has "changed radically," with migration increasingly used by state and non-state actors as a tool of geopolitical pressure — not merely a humanitarian or management challenge.
Mr. Mitsotakis pointed to the Ceuta crisis, in which tens of thousands crossed into the Spanish enclave from Morocco, as the latest evidence that migration had, in some cases, become "an instrument of geopolitical coercion."
Mr. Mitsotakis proposed a dedicated EU framework triggered by clear, objective criteria combining quantitative measures — the scale and speed of arrivals relative to a country's capacity — with qualitative indicators such as evidence of coordination by third countries or organized crime networks.
Under his proposal, member states facing extreme, disproportionate pressure could temporarily suspend asylum applications from new arrivals under a special EU emergency regime, while fast-tracking returns of those without a right to remain — measures he insisted must remain fully compliant with EU law, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the principle of non-refoulement, and be strictly time-limited and proportionate.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris presented a closely related proposal to EU counterparts the same day, at an informal videoconference on the Ceuta crisis, including a mechanism to suspend asylum processing in extreme cases.
Mrs. von der Leyen's announcement of a new "European Framework for Emergency Situations," triggered by a "strictly defined set of criteria" allowing temporary flexibility in standard procedures, closely mirrors the Greek proposal's structure.
The Greek plan is expected to be formally presented at the next EU meeting of ministers responsible for migration.