The new agreement that will apply to migration from June 12, 2026 was discussed by Thanos Plevris in his interview on SKAI TV. The Minister of Migration and Asylum emphasized that Greece will not accept returns until that specific date, having agreed with Germany to write off its obligations. Furthermore, he stressed that there will be no migrant return centers within Europe, meaning illegal migrants will have to consider that if they leave their homeland, they will be sent to an African country.
“At this moment we have a framework that we presented at the Council of Ministers. The first news is that migrant return centers will be established outside Europe. They will return to African countries. The EU is in negotiations with specific countries on this issue. Illegal migrants must fear that if they come from Pakistan, for example, they will be sent to an African country if the country they enter cannot send them back to their homeland. That’s when we talk about deterrence. This horrifies the Left, but what can we do, this is the policy that must be followed,” the minister said.
Thanos Plevris: What Greece’s share entails
Thanos Plevris then spoke about the agreement Greece made with Germany, as after June 12, Greece was set to be burdened with a large number of migrants based on the Dublin Agreement. He subsequently explained the agreement with the Germans for the “write-off” of Greece’s obligation under the Dublin Agreement to take back migrants. The agreement will not apply and Greece will have the obligation to take a percentage of illegal migrants who will not return to their homelands. These will be relocated to various European countries, with Greece taking a 25% share as it is a first reception country. The Minister of Migration and Asylum emphasized: “Let’s go with the Germans now. On June 12, the migration pact would be implemented. Greece had a huge thorn. It had a massive population, hundreds of thousands of people in Europe, who under the Dublin Agreement, we had to take back, even if we disagreed.
What we agreed with Germany is that we wrote off the return obligations. Until June 12, 2026, whatever backlog was to be returned to us (by the Germans) is written off. What do we give Germany for this? We tell them, “you write off all those who were to be returned and we don’t take back solidarity, meaning either money or offset and take some individuals.” From June 12, Dublin is abolished and the pact begins. According to this, the goal will be the return of illegal migrants, and those who remain, there will be relocations to all European countries, based on each country’s capacity. We, as a first reception country, will take our proportional share.
The agreement with Germany concerns the past component. We don’t take back migrants from Germany, and from June 12, 2026, the pact will apply. In the first round that came out for the first semester, the relocations issued for all Europeans are 21,000. For Greece, this corresponds to approximately 20%, which is 4-5 thousand. We will receive solidarity in return, meaning some money.”
