Greece pitches suspending EU right to asylum during migration crises

Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris on Thursday proposed suspending the right to apply for asylum in the EU in cases of a mass influx of irregular migrants.

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The controversial measure would mark a major shift in the bloc’s migration policy, allowing migrants to be returned without an individual assessment of their asylum claims, potentially resulting in “collective pushbacks”, which are prohibited under current EU law.

Greece is pushing for the proposal to be included in the “European Emergency Response Framework”, a new law the European Commission is presenting in the coming months to tackle irregular arrivals and the instrumentalisation of migration at the EU’s external borders.

Athens has proposed a mechanism called the “Special Derogation Regime”, which would be triggered only in exceptional circumstances. The criteria would include a rapid increase in irregular arrivals, pressure on local infrastructure and evidence that migratory flows are being organised or facilitated by non-EU countries.

If triggered, the mechanism would allow the temporary suspension of asylum applications, the use of accelerated return procedures and immediate assistance from the EU border agency Frontex.

The discussion was brief after Plevris presented the proposal at the Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg, according to diplomats.

But several EU countries appear open to backing the measure.

“There was a clear willingness to look into this matter and see what is possible”, an EU diplomat told Euronews.

Poland, Germany, Austria and Denmark are among the countries showing support.

“Normal asylum procedures cannot take place when it is clear that [a mass influx of migrants] is not a humanitarian situation, but one caused by smuggling and disinformation acts,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters on arrival.

“If 70,000 people, especially young men, come in one day, that obviously has nothing to do with asylum […] and then you cannot work with the previous rules,” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said.

Belgian Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt also said there should be “no taboos” when considering measures to make the return of irregular migrants more effective.

Earlier this week, the European People’s Party backed suspending the right to seek asylum in response to “hybrid attacks”, in which third countries facilitate large-scale migration to destabilise an EU border.

The proposal has been criticised by left-wing politicians, migration experts and civil society groups, who argue that suspending a fundamental right would be unprecedented and could undermine existing safeguards.

Some EU countries have temporarily suspended the processing of asylum claims in the past.

Greece suspended the processing of asylum claims for one month in March 2020 and again for three months in July 2025, following a sudden increase in sea arrivals from Libya. Poland introduced a similar measure for migrants crossing its border from Belarus in March 2025.

At EU level, however, suspending the right to seek asylum remains under consideration. Under current rules, people present in an EU country have the right to apply for asylum, with claims assessed individually.

Asylum applications in the EU have been falling since 2023. In the first half of this year, around 332,000 people applied for asylum in EU countries plus Switzerland and Norway, 17% fewer than during the same period in 2025.

During the same meeting, EU ministers gave a final green light to the “Return Regulation”, a law aimed at speeding up the return of migrants with no legal right to remain in the EU. It allows EU countries to set up deportation centres outside the bloc, known as return hubs, through agreements with non-EU countries.