FT — Brussels is to press Athens to improve conditions for asylum seekers in the hope of making it easier for other EU member states to send migrants back to Greece.
The European Commission will on Wednesday set out a list of concrete steps that it expects the Greeks to take to bring their facilities in line with international standards, including the provision of tribunals to hear asylum claims.
The recommendations are part of a broader progress report on the bloc’s efforts to respond to the migration crisis, highlighting stubborn shortcomings that have undermined attempts to implement common solutions.Brussels’ pressure on conditions for asylum seekers comes as it initiates a separate evaluation of “deficiencies” in Greece’s external border controls. Both are likely to stir fresh resentment in Athens, where officials are fuming about the burden the crisis has placed on the country.
A key point of contention is the EU’s Dublin regulation, which requires the member state in which refugees first arrive to register them and accept their applications for asylum.
In theory, Dublin allows for asylum seekers who later move elsewhere in the bloc to be deported back to the EU country in which they first arrived.
But deportations to Greece have, in effect, been banned since 2011 when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the country’s asylum system was “degrading”.
This was followed by a European Court of Justice ruling which forbade member states from sending people back to countries where they might face “inhuman” or “degrading” treatment.
Greece’s de facto exclusion from the Dublin rules has thrown the system into disarray. While the EU has limited leverage over Athens, officials are relying on the threat of more drastic measures — to roll back Schengen and abandon efforts to divvy up refugee quotas — acting as an incentive to change.
On Wednesday, the commission will serve Greece with a list of specific steps to improve its reception facilities, health provision and establish a better system of tribunals to hear asylum cases. Greece will be asked to report on progress on a monthly basis.
The plan comes ahead of another summit on the crisis next week in Brussels. EU leaders will call on countries at the bloc’s borders, such as Greece and Italy, to refuse entry to people who have not made an asylum claim “despite having had the opportunity to do so”, according to draft conclusions from the meeting.
