Over 1,000 refugees being returned by EU peers
Greece has approved requests for the return of a total of 1,027 third-country refugees from other European Union member-states, though of these, only 96 have been sent back to the country where they were first granted asylum, Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos told Parliament on Thursday. The majority of the return requests have come from Germany (232) and Switzerland (169), while France has submitted 76, Sweden 47 and Finland 25.
Those returns concern refugees who entered the EU through Greece and were granted asylum here, before moving on to other countries in the bloc, where, however, they are only allowed to stay for three months on a tourist visa.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has stressed that the rule puts inordinate pressure on frontline countries like Greece and accuses Brussels of double standards after it allowed refugees from Ukraine unrestricted movement across the bloc.
