Greece proposes temporary suspension of asylum applications in the EU in emergency cases

Athens, 1 October 2026 – Greece today proposed at European Union level the creation of an emergency mechanism that would allow the temporary suspension of asylum applications during major migration crises, as Reuters reports.

The proposal was presented by Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris at the meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers being held in Luxembourg.

The trigger for the proposal is the crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where around 72,000 migrants entered at the end of July and around 10,000 of them are still there, while Spain is struggling to relocate them to other countries.

Greece has applied similar measures before: a one-month suspension of asylum procedures in March 2020 at the Greek-Turkish border, and a three-month suspension in July 2025 for arrivals from Libya to Crete. Poland also applied such a measure in March 2025.

According to Reuters, Plevris also proposed creating a quota system for the relocation and reception of migrants among member states. Meanwhile, Spain’s foreign minister described the suspension of asylum as a violation of EU norms.