Greece has suspended processing asylum applications from North Africa for three months since the number of immigrants skyrocketed.
Conservative Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitotakis said any boat arrivals from the area will be arrested and detained.
He added that Greece “sends a message of determination… because it’s difficult to reach Greece by sea to all traffickers and to all potential customers who say the money they spend can be completely wasted.”
“This emergency situation requires emergency response.”
Mitsotakis added that the provision is based on the same legal reasoning that Greece applied in 2020, stopping thousands of people from crossing their land borders with Turkey.
The draft bill will take place before Congress on Thursday.
“The clear message: Stay where you are and we won’t accept you,” said Thanos Pleblis, an immigrant at X.
The announcement of Mitsotakis follows a significant increase in immigrant arrivals on Crete and the South Islands of Gavdos.
More than 2,000 migrants have recently landed on Crete, with another 520 people rescued off the coast early on Wednesday, bringing in total numbers since its inception in 2025.
This has been a 350% increase since last year, said Vasilis Katikandarakis, president of the Western Crete Coast Guard Association. “Immigrants are choking us… our staff are literally on their laps,” he said.
“The flow is very high,” government spokesman Pablos Marinakis told Action 24 Channel on Tuesday, adding that the waves are “growing.”
According to public broadcaster ERT, Crete authorities are exposed to significant logistical tensions as the pace and scale of arrival continues to exceed the capacity of the available accommodation infrastructure.
Hundreds of people had to temporarily stay in the slow market hall, adding that some of the immigrants have 30 families with young children and infants.
The ERT said redistribution of immigrants to other parts of the country is a particularly slow process as buses and ferries are available during tourist season.
On Tuesday, Greek, Italian, Maltese ministers and EU immigration commissioners traveled to Libya to discuss the surge in immigration deposits.
However, they had to turn back when they were rivals of the National Stability Government (GNS) – Unrecognized Government of the State (GNU), when they entered the country and accused them of violating Libyan sovereignty.
Still, Mitotakis said that Greek troops are ready to work with Libyan authorities to prevent boats from departing from Libyan coasts.
NGOs have repeatedly criticised the European government’s attempts to build deals with Libyan authorities to stem the flow of immigration.
Those intercepted by Libyan coast guards and returned to the coast are often imprisoned in detention camps, where they are subject to inhuman medical treatment and misery.
“Attempts to stop departures at any cost shows a complete disregard for the lives and dignity of migrants and refugees,” Amnesty International said.
