Gov’t working on plan to speed up the asylum process
The government is working on new legislation to speed up the asylum process and to award citizenship, Deputy Interior Minister Haralambos Athanassiou said during a conference in Athens on Thursday.
He did not provide details regarding the new legislation but said the aim was to speed up the asylum process and create a “fair and effective” system.
Greece has a first instance asylum approval rate of less than 0.1 percent.
On the issue of citizenship, the government recently blocked a 2010 law allowing second-generation immigrants to get Greek papers.
Athanassiou said this would be replaced with legislation that would require migrants to show a “genuine bond” with Greece and prove they had assimilated into Greek culture.
