Athens says it won't accept Germany's plan to return migrants who first applied for asylum in Greece. The migration minister says the country administers a disproportionate number of displaced people within the EU.
Immigration and Asylum Minister Makis Voridis on Friday said Greece would not welcome requests from Germany to take back asylum seekers who had already applied for asylum in the Mediterranean country.
Voridis told news channel Skai that such a return is out of the question under the current circumstances, with Greece already hosting the European Union's highest number of asylum seekers per capita after Cyprus.
What did the Greek minister say?
Responding to a report that a German court had ruled that deportations to Greece were permissible, Voridis said that such action would not solve the migration issue.
"Some people have gone from Greece to Germany, where they are making their requests there," said Voridis.
"When Greece is currently the second country in pressure per capita in terms of immigration due to being a host country, and in terms of asylum applications, we cannot now talk about returns."
"As long as there is no fair distribution of burdens within the European Union, Greece will not accept any returns," Voridis said.
Voridis said that, should Germany ask for the returns to be accepted, the legal issues would be considered
"Right now we don't have any requests. However, we won't be very friendly to the request," he said.
Why might Germany seek refugee returns to Greece?
According to the European Union's currently applicable "Dublin Agreement," asylum seekers must complete their asylum procedure in the EU's first country of reception.
Germany's Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig last week ruled that two men who face impending deportation to Greece would not face inhumane or degrading reception conditions if they were sent back.
The pair moved on to Germany and lodged new asylum applications, but the authorities deemed these as inadmissible, and deportation orders to Greece were issued.
People who receive protection status in Greece effectively receive little to no access to state support, but the court found no significant probability that they would suffer extreme material hardship.
Author: Richard Connor with dpa
First published: April 25, 2025
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