Asylum rejections blocked amid capacity crisis

File photo.

Greece has suspended the rejection of asylum applications, arsenic authorities look a deficiency of detention capableness under a caller migration law. The measurement stems from Law 5226, which introduced the “return oregon prison” doctrine for radical denied asylum. With nary facilities to detain thousands, the Asylum Service told staff to halt denials until further notice.

From January to June 2025, 16,590 asylum rulings were issued, 4,719 of them rejections. Under the caller law, astir 5,000 radical would person been imprisoned successful that play alone. Currently, 27,015 cases stay pending, with an estimated 9,000 expected rejections.

Asylum Service main Marios Kaleas confirmed the suspension but described it arsenic purely managerial, citing the request to update case-handling practices. He said the process would resume successful days. Meanwhile, migrants connected Crete are being transferred to different facilities, with Sudanese and Eritreans sent separately to Malakasa.