“The message we emit is clear: Sit where you are. You are not welcome here, you do not receive international protection, you will not blackmail the Hellenic Republic. The Hellenic Republic can be protected ‘, The Minister of Immigration and Asylum Thanos Plevris stressed, supporting the plenary an amendment to suspend asylum applications from people who illegally enter the country by any floating means of North Africa.

Mr Plevris emphasized the necessity of the regulation, saying that “what is currently happening from Libya and the coasts of North Africa is not a smooth migration flow, but an invasion operation to Europe” and noted that “in 2024 we had a total of 4,000 arrivals and in 2025. There were more than 1,000 people. ” Mr Plevris said that as it was found during the European Commission’s visit to Libya, there were 3,000,000 immigrants on its coast.

In the face of these flows, the minister said: “We must make it clear that the state should protect its territory and can in no way accept this massive invasion.” “We will not allow mass boats to come in the name of any pseudo -humanism” with “NGOs of millions of euros that are milking European funds and humanity …” He stressed.

Concerning the measures taken, Mr Plevris said that they relate to both the fullest border guard, but no matter how much this perimeter is supervised, there will be a world that will pass and therefore, as he said, specific management is required, such as the suspension of asylum request. It is, he noted, a regulation that “is based on the deterrence model implemented in Evros in 2020 followed by other European countries, such as Poland and Spain, when they received similar migratory invasions and were judged by the ECHR as lawful”. He pointed out that these measures are taken with the knowledge of the European Commission. They have a geographical framework for application, that is, where we objectively have mass inputs and time logical duration (quarter) for its implementation, so that it is compatible with the European context and not to fall.

The minister said that the bill that will come to Parliament soon and be within the European framework will accelerate the asylum examination procedures and become an independent act of imprisonment for anyone who is rejected asylum and refuses to leave the country.

On this amendment, Mr Plevris said that “the illegal immigrant will not be able to apply, will not be asylum, but instead will be put into a detention and return regime without asylum. And that in itself is a deterrent factor. “

Our government, the minister said, “will follow a political disincentive of the harsh but fair immigration policy” noting that now we have a Europe in the same direction that is now listening to us and does not want a Europe-axis and taxi of those who want to come illegally. “

Responding to the amendment of the amendment, he stated that “the corresponding act of legislative content of Evros was considered constitutional by the CoE, although it had no geographical designation, it concerned the whole territory, contrary to the current geographical orientation”.

The minister also commented on the objections of Evangelos Venizelos on the legal basis of the amendment which in its explanatory memorandum also refers to Article 15 of the ECHR. As he noted, “there is a misunderstanding here. We do not ask that Article 15 of the ECHR that enables public security and danger issues be activated, but we select, proportionally, a lesser weight of the conditions in this context. “

Regarding the closed structure created in Crete, he said that “it must exist in order to be able to keep illegal immigrants” by saying that we will see if and whether local communities will work together.