Greek Immigration Minister Thanos Pleuris meets with German Interior Minister Dobrid. The focus is on the return of refugees from Germany to Greece. Today, Tuesday (04/11), the Greek Minister of Immigration, Thanos Pleuris, is traveling to Berlin for a difficult meeting with the German Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrid. The consultations between the two ministers will not be easy, although the two conservative politicians have very similar views on the issue of irregular immigration. Both want to send the same message: That those who cross the border “illegally” will have no chance in Europe. Both would prefer to close Europe’s borders to refugees. However, in some aspects of the issue there is also a difference of opinion.

From the first day he took office as immigration minister last July, Thanos Pleuris declared that “we will be the first European country with the strictest regulations on illegal entry” – thus proudly showing how tough his policy will be.

This attitude of his is in line with his far-right past and the positions he has always had on immigration, where guarding the borders “requires dead people”, as Plevris had once mentioned, suggesting at the same time that no support of any kind be given to the refugees who will arrive in the country.

In July, however, as the new Minister of Immigration, Pleuris appeared somewhat more restrained – at least in the wording. “Anyone who does not have the right to asylum will either end up in prison or go back,” he said and immediately submitted a relevant bill to Parliament, which was approved by the votes of the government’s MPs, as well as smaller parties to the right of New Democracy.

“Greece will not accept immigrants from Germany”

The new Greek immigration deterrence policy is likely to find receptive ears in Germany. But there is also a point where the interests of the two like-minded ministers collide: Dobrid wants to send several thousand refugees back to Greece, which the Greek Minister of Immigration refuses. “Greece will under no circumstances accept immigrants from Germany”, Plevris has repeatedly stressed.

In the context of secondary migration, thousands of refugees who are recognized as beneficiaries of international protection in Greece travel to Germany, either because they have friends or relatives there or again because they hope for a better future.

This trip is legal. But it is illegal to submit a second asylum application in another EU country. Recognized refugees can travel freely to other EU countries for up to 90 days in a six-month period. According to the Dublin Regulation, a refugee can request asylum only in the state of first entry (in this case Greece). However, it is difficult to check whether a refugee recognized in Greece stays in Germany for more than 90 days. It is therefore unclear how many such “secondary migrants” there are. However, it is estimated that there are between 26,000 and 60,000 people, whom Dobrid would like to return to Greece – and whom Pleuris is not willing to accept back.

On top of that, the two politicians are also fighting a battle for their domestic political image: They want to prove to their supporters that they are strict with “illegals”. The returns of a few thousand people should not normally be a major issue in bilateral relations.

Voluntary solidarity, flexible responsibility

The real problem for both countries is the long-term implementation of the new European agreement on asylum and migration, which will come into force on July 1, 2026. Both Germany and other northern EU countries insist that the Dublin Regulation on migration, under which states on the EU’s external borders bear the responsibility for receiving refugees, must be fully re-implemented.

Greece and the other Mediterranean countries want the agreed solidarity mechanism to be implemented. They would prefer a mandatory solidarity mechanism that would more fairly distribute the burdens within the EU, but since such a thing is not foreseen in the new agreement, they believe that they themselves do not have such strict obligations. For Greece, the key phrase is “flexible responsibility”. This means that if arrivals at the Greek border exceed the country’s capacity, the resettlement of refugees to other EU countries will have to increase. If the northern countries refuse to show solidarity – which is not binding anyway – Greece will not put much effort into strictly implementing the Dublin rules.

Data on immigration differ from 2015

Across the EU, immigration is everywhere a very important issue, especially in the era of US President Donald Trump and the rise of far-right parties and their ideology in Europe. However, between 2024 and 2025 asylum applications in the 27 EU Member States fell and remain almost everywhere well below the levels reached during the 2015 refugee crisis.

Only in the Mediterranean countries – ie the southern external borders of the EU, where border control is more difficult – asylum applications doubled. From January to September 2025 around 100,000 refugees arrived in Europe from Mediterranean states – 42% of EU asylum applications were lodged in Spain, Italy and Greece.

In proportion to the population, Greece received the most asylum applications, with Cyprus following. From 2021 to today, Spain, Italy and Greece are under increasing pressure. The number of arrivals is clearly lower than in 2015, but from 2021 it is increasing slowly and steadily.

Returning people who are not eligible for asylum is crucial to the sustainability of the asylum system. However, in the EU on average only about one in five people who have submitted an asylum application and had it rejected eventually return to their country of origin.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas