Plevris: “We Will Take Very Harsh Measures if Crete Arrivals Continue”
Greece's migration minister Thanos Plevris warned Thursday that the government is prepared to go beyond its current asylum suspension policy if migrant arrivals to Crete keep surging at the pace seen this week. His warning came after more than 600 people arrived on the island in a single day, one of the highest single-day counts the Cretan route has seen.
"If there are attempts to continue what happened yesterday, we will take very harsh measures that we have already discussed with the prime minister, much more harsh than the simple suspension of the asylum process," Plevris told parliament. He declined to specify what those measures would be.
"We will not allow what happened in 2015-2016 to be repeated," Plevris said. "The country has borders and these will be guarded."
Almost half of Greece's roughly 10,000 total arrivals by land and sea so far this year have landed on Crete, with most boats departing from Tobruk in eastern Libya. The coast guard recorded another 105 landings on Friday, the day after the 600-person surge.
Plevris pointed out that people from Bangladesh and Egypt make up at least half of those reaching Crete in the first five months of 2026, countries he noted are not at war. "There is no war there. They arrive as economic migrants," he said.
Two new detention centers are being planned near Iraklio and Hania on Crete. Plevris described them as facilities to hold people who entered illegally until authorities determine whether they qualify as refugees or are economic migrants.
The minister also drew a direct line to the 2015-2016 crisis, when nearly a million people passed through Greece into the EU under the SYRIZA government. "We will not allow what happened in 2015-2016 to be repeated," he said. "The country has borders and these will be guarded."
On a separate front, Plevris credited cooperation with Turkish authorities for a 70% drop in arrivals from Turkey's Aegean coast to Greece's eastern islands, a route that historically carried the heaviest migration pressure.
