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ATHENS: Greece will suspend all asylum hearings for migrants arriving on boats from North Africa for three months, the prime minister said Wednesday following a rise in migrant arrivals from Libya.
The move came after more than 2,000 migrants landed on Crete in recent days, sparking anger among local authorities and tourism operators. Crete is one of Greece’s top travel destinations, and premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ home island.
Greece had hoped to stem the arrivals by reaching out to the authorities in Benghazi, eastern Libya, and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli — but that failed.
“The road to Greece is closing... any migrants entering illegally will be arrested and detained,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.
The conservative leader said legislation would be put to a vote in the chamber on Thursday, and that Athens was keeping the EU informed on the issue.
The measure was a “necessary temporary reaction” and a message “to smugglers and their potential clients,” said Mitsotakis.
Greece took similar steps in 2020 during a migration surge at its land border with Turkiye, which Athens accused Ankara of facilitating.
Another group of some 520 people were rescued near Crete early Wednesday, and will be rerouted to the Athens port of Lavrio, the coast guard said.
“The flows are very high,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told Action 24 channel late Tuesday, adding that the wave was “growing and ongoing.”

On Sunday, the Greek coast guard rescued more than 600 asylum seekers in various operations in the area.
AFP pictures showed some of them landing near Agia Galini beach on the south of Crete, where many tourists were bathing.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris — a former member of Greek far-right party Laos — posted on X that the country was taking “immediate actions to counter the invasion from North Africa.”
“Clear message: Stay where you are, we do not accept you,” he wrote.
According to the coast guard, 7,300 asylum seekers have reached Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos this year, up from fewer than 5,000 last year.
More than 2,500 arrivals have been recorded since June alone.
To manage the influx, the government could reopen camps built in the mainland after the 2015 migration crisis, Marinakis said.
Mitsotakis told parliament that a camp would also be built on Crete, with a second one also possible.

Greece had hoped arrivals could be reduced with the help of the authorities in eastern Libya in Benghazi, and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli.
But a visit Tuesday by the EU’s migration commissioner and the migration ministers of Greece, Italy and Malta was unsuccessful.
Accusing the bloc’s delegation of a “flagrant breach of diplomatic norms,” the authorities who hold sway over eastern Libya said they had canceled the visit and told the EU officials to “leave Libyan territory immediately.”
The diplomatic breakdown has sparked concern in Greece of thousands of additional migrant arrivals from Libya.
“The other side is not cooperating,” Marinakis said, referring to the authorities in Benghazi.
Mitsotakis on Wednesday said Greece’s navy and coast guard were willing to work with Libyan authorities to keep migrant boats from leaving the country’s territorial waters, or to turn them back before entering Greek waters.
Libya has been gripped by conflict since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
Greece had reached out to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar before the botched EU visit, sending Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis on Sunday.
Gerapetritis is also scheduled to hold talks with the UN-recognized government in Tripoli on July 15.

BRUSSELS: The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a proposal to fast-track talks on the EU’s new climate target, scuttling a move by liberal, socialist and green lawmakers to try to limit the influence of climate skeptic lawmakers on the goal.
The far-right Patriots of Europe group, which rejects EU policies to curb climate change, on Tuesday took on the role of lead negotiators for the 2040 climate target, seeking to steer talks on the goal, which the group said it firmly opposed.
Lawmakers rebuffed a proposal on Wednesday to fast-track the negotiations, which would have skipped stages where the Patriots could exert most influence, and limited their ability to set the timings for negotiations.
A total of 379 lawmakers rejected the plan to accelerate the talks, versus 300 in favor and eight abstentions.
The vote puts the Patriots firmly in the lead for the parliament as it negotiates the final 2040 climate target with EU member countries. The Patriots will now draft an initial negotiating proposal for the parliament.
A Patriots spokesperson said the group would not prioritize trying to meet a September deadline for countries to submit new climate targets to the United Nations.
“What truly matters is achieving a deal that delivers real benefits for our citizens. Patriots have never negotiated under pressure like traders in a marketplace,” the spokesperson said.
The Patriots are the third-biggest lawmaker group in the EU Parliament and the group includes the political parties of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Patriots secured the lead negotiating role in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday by outbidding the parliament’s biggest group, the center-right European People’s Party, EU officials told Reuters.
Green lawmakers said they feared the target would now be watered down or face long delays. “There is an acute danger that the European Union’s climate target will be buried,” said German EU lawmaker Michael Bloss.
The attempt to fast-track the talks failed because it was not supported by the EPP — the party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Dutch EPP EU lawmaker Jeroen Lenaers said the group did not deem the fast-track procedure necessary, and wanted to “improve” the Commission’s proposed target to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040, without specifying further.
Some EPP lawmakers have said a 90 percent target is too ambitious. Governments from Italy to Poland have pushed back this year on ambitious emissions-cutting goals, citing concerns over the costs for industries.