Greece pushes EU to suspend asylum during mass migration surges 

Greece has urged the European Union to allow member states to temporarily suspend asylum applications during periods of mass migration, arguing that current rules cannot handle emergencies such as the surge in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta this summer.

The proposal was submitted to EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday during the Justice and Home Affairs Council, and appeared to draw support from some member states.

Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said the EU’s migration pact, which took effect in June, had improved the bloc’s ability to manage migration flows but had not gone far enough.

“In such cases, there should be enhanced border surveillance and suspension of asylum,” he told reporters ahead of the meeting.

Dutch Migration Minister Bart van den Brink backed the approach, saying mass arrivals like those in Ceuta should be “treated as a border management issue rather than an asylum issue”.

Spain estimates more than 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta in late July. While most have since returned, about 10,000 remain, reinforcing calls in some European capitals for a tougher approach.

Anti-immigration sentiment has remained a potent political force across Europe since more than a million people, many of them Syrians fleeing war, arrived in the bloc in 2015. The influx boosted support for nationalist and far-right parties and pushed many governments towards more restrictive migration policies centred on border controls, deterrence and returns.

Irregular arrivals are down 35 percent this year, while returns rose about 8 percent in the first half of the year.

Several member states argue that although the migration pact has helped reduce arrivals, it still lacks sufficient tools to handle large-scale emergencies, despite containing mechanisms intended for such situations.

Plevris’s proposal comes two weeks after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the commission would present an emergency framework allowing member states to respond to sudden, large-scale arrivals.

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said international law would still have to be respected. “Europe needs the means to protect its borders at all times,” he said. “When movements are engineered and weaponised against us, this is not just a migration issue; it is a security issue … Of course we will always comply with fundamental rights and values.”

Ministers also approved a new return regulation on Thursday allowing member states to establish return hubs outside the EU.

Two European Parliament politicians said Rwanda has held preliminary talks with some EU countries about hosting such a facility, citing discussions with Rwandan officials.

Officials from Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Denmark, known as the Group of Five, met on the sidelines of the council on Thursday. Van den Brink said a technical mission visited the potential host country in early September, and the group aims to identify it by the end of this year, with transfers beginning in 2027.