“What we did from the start, when I took over the government, was to impose a tough but – I think – fair migration policy,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with journalists of the German newspaper “Bild”. He also recalled that six months after taking over, his …

The head of the EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, has filed his resignation following excoriating criticism of its human rights record and an anti-fraud investigation. Fabrice Leggeri, who was censured by the European parliament last year, announced his resignation in a letter to the agency’s management board. “I give …

A bold question on pushbacks posed by a Dutch journalist to Greek and Dutch prime ministers during a press conference had Kyriakos Mitsotakis “see red”. He felt insulted also in the name of the “Greek people” and losing his temper he furiously advised correspondent Ingebor Beugel that in Greece’s we …

Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi has announced that he has requested  Greece’s National Transparency Authority investigate the recently reported allegations of refugees’ pushbacks carried out at Greek waters. Mitarachi made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday about the fatal sinking of a vessel off the island of …

Published reports about illegal pushbacks of migrants at the Greek border in the Aegean Sea as well as in Croatia should be thoroughly investigated, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Thursday. The Commissioner was referring to investigative reports by several European media outlets about violent migrants’pushbacks by …

European Union lawmakers lashed out Tuesday at the head of Frontex Fabrice Leggeri over allegations that the border and coast guard agency helped illegally stop migrants or refugees entering Europe, calling for his resignation and demanding an independent inquiry. The lawmakers grilled Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri over an investigation in …

Council of Europe’s anti-torture Committee calls on Greece to reform its immigration detention system and stop pushbacks. In a report published on Thursday, on a rapid reaction ad hoc visit to Greece in March 2020, the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee (CPT) once again urges the Greek authorities to change …

European border agency Frontex has launched an internal investigation into press reports of alleged illegal pushbacks of migrants and refugees in the Aegean Sea. A relevant TV report broadcasted on Tuesday at German public broadcaster ARD not only displayed footage but also featured among others eye-witness accounts by Greek islanders …

Three Greek ministers were grilled with a storm of questions at the European Palriament on Monday regarding pushbacks of illegal migrants at the land and the sea borders and cases of probable lethal shootings at the Evros border with Turkey. Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis, …

Greece vehemently rejects media reports often accompanied by footage, on collective pushbacks of migrants and refugees in the Aegean Sea. As as such reports have been increased, United Nations organization like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN’s International Organization for Migration(IOM) call on Greece to investigate …

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced the dispatch of 1,000 police officers to the country’s North-West border in order to”prevent Greece to push migrants back to Turkey.” In an interview with CNN Turk on Thursday, Soylu said that the EU border protection agency Frontex and Greece have pushed 4,900 migrants …

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias responded to unprecedented attacks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who used the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to claim “Greece is turning the Aegean into a cemetery for migrants. “Greece is turning the Aegean into a cemetery for migrants,” said Erdogan in …

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias raised the issue of WWII reparations for the Nazi occupations of Greece and asked his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock to halt exports of submarines to Turkey. At a meeting of the two top diplomats in Athens on Friday morning and during joint statements, Dendias said …

The European Union’s top migration official told Greece on Thursday to stop “violent” deportations of migrants or risk losing funds. After becoming one of the main destination points during the migration crisis of 2015, Athens has hardened its policy in the past year by increasing land and sea patrols, extending …

A total of 308 reported incidents of abusive targeting of young people and other vulnerable groups by officers of the law due to their national, ethnic or racial origin are noted in the Greek Ombudsman’s 2021 report that was released on Thursday. The independent authority, which also operates as the …

A tax driver pulled out a gun and shot a Pakistani migrant in the head in the center of Athens on May 2. The bullet hit the man just a few centimeters away from his eye. He was taken with the ambulance to hospital where doctors removed the bullet and …

Greece’s independent authority for transparency said Tuesday that after an in-depth investigation it has found no basis for reports that Greek authorities have illegally turned back asylum-seekers entering the country from Turkey. The National Transparency Authority said in a statement that the allegations by the Lighthouse Reports non-profit organization last …

The government says it will renew a request for European Union funds in 2022 to extend a border wall along the country’s frontier with Turkey and promised to expand a powerful surveillance network aimed at stopping migrants entering the country illegally. A public order minister, Takis Theodorikakos, told a parliamentary …

The Greek Ombudsman announced on Wednesday that it launches an investigation into the complaint about the illegal pushback of a Frontex interpreter from Greece to Turkey. The Constitutional independent authority added that it has received a formal complain from the EU border agency. A Frontex employee has claimed that he …

Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel who challenged Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a press conference is leaving Greece for reasons concerning her own safety. Beugel became the target of a smear campaign, received threats and even got hit with a stone. The Dutch Embassy in Athens and the Dutch Ministry of …