By Yannis Anifantis

Nikos Panagiotopoulos expressed his concern about the possibility of a dramatic increase in immigration flows, due to the constantly worsening situation in Lebanon, in the Plenary Session of the Parliament, answering a topical question.

The Minister for Immigration and Asylum however, he made it clear that the situation is manageable, however he pointed out the uncertainty about the future, due to the fluid situation that prevails in the region.

“I cannot predict the future, if there will be an explosion of flows from Lebanon in the next few days. At the moment this is not happening and the situation is manageable”, he emphasized. He even noted that the data confirm a 60% increase in flows in the eight months of 2024.

“The last famous we have increases from North Africa. Last year 77 (irregular immigrants) had arrived and this year around 2,800, a dramatic increase in the flow through this route.

However, it does not constitute a crisis, the situation is completely manageable”, underlined the Minister. “The big increase is observed in the islands of the South Aegean, we have a marginal decrease in the North Aegean and on the land borders mainly in Evros”, he added.