Third country nationals that illegally enter Greece from now on will supposedly not be subject to restrictions on their movement in the EU member-state if they submit an application for political asylum, the country’s Council of State (CoS) has ruled.
The ruling excludes third country nationals considered refugees or irregular migrants currently restricted to the islands of Lesvos (Mytilene), Samos, Hios (Chios), Leros, Rhodes and Kos, and who arrived by whatever means on Greek territory before March 20, 2016. The aforementioned third country nationals – mostly from strife-torn regions of the Middle East and Afghanistan but also would-be economic migrants from an assortment of Third World countries – will continue to be restricted from travel to other parts of Greece until their applications are resolved by a slow-moving Greek bureaucracy.
The highest administrative court ruled on a lawsuit filed by the Greek Council for Refugees, which requested the suspension of a 2016 decision by the asylum service’s director, which restricted the movement of asylum seekers to the six eastern Aegean islands. The latter islands are the main destinations for third country nationals ferried from Turkey to Greece by people smuggling rings usually operating under the “nose” of Turkish authorities and law enforcement.
The Greek government will essentially have to bring forth new legislation to restrict the movement of such individuals to the specific islands, if it desired to continue the current regime.
The ruling comes as reports this week out of the Evros border prefecture, on the frontier with Turkey in the Thrace province, point to increased passage into Greek territory by irregular migrants and people seeking to file asylum requests.
In a related development, a Spiegel Online dispatch from Athens this week showcases what it calls “Internet sales” of IDs and travel documents issued by German authorities to refugees.
The German mass media outlet quotes German federal police as recording the mass trade of such documents, a trade it claims is primarily conducted in Greece.
The same article notes that from Greece “anyone, with these documents, can board aircraft, without further checks, destined for Stockholm, Frankfurt or Amsterdam. According to the federal police, the number of ascertained illegal arrivals by plane (to Germany) increased by 9 percent in 2016, and 22 in 2017. The primary country of departure is Greece, the analysis states.”
