ATHENS, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Greece said on Thursday that the EU should develop an emergency mechanism to temporarily suspend applications for asylum in major migration crises such as the arrival of tens of thousands of people in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa crossed into Europe. Arrivals have since dropped, although Greek Aegean islands have seen a rise in migrant boats from Libya in recent years.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said on Thursday that an EU migration pact had helped curb arrivals and increase migrant returns, but that the measures taken so far were not sufficient to deal with emergencies such as the surge into Ceuta.
Spain estimates more than 72,000 migrants entered the North African enclave in late July. Most returned but around 10,000 are still there.
“In such cases, there should be enhanced border surveillance and suspension of asylum,” he said, arriving at a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers in Luxembourg.
Athens stopped processing asylum applications from migrants arriving from North Africa by sea for a few months last year and passed legislation to fast-track deportation of rejected asylum seekers.
Greece, along with Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, known as the Group of Five, said they had agreed on concrete steps towards establishing return hubs in a non-EU country as part of a wider European push to increase deportations and curb irregular migration.
(Reporting by Angeliki KoutantouEditing by Peter Graff)
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