Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced the government’s intention to introduce stricter measures targeting foreign nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected.
According to Reuters, the proposed legislation would impose harsher penalties and speed up the process of returning migrants to their countries of origin.
Mitsotakis’s center-right government continues to prioritize migration policy, even though the current migration flow is significantly lower than during the 2015–2016 crisis.
The specific provisions of the bill have not yet been disclosed, as the legislation has not been submitted to Parliament. Official data shows that in the first four months of 2025, the number of migrants arriving in Greece dropped by 30% compared to the same period last year. However, there has been a sharp rise in sea arrivals via a new illegal migration route from Libya to the islands of Crete and Gavdos.
