Send rejected asylum-seekers out of EU ASAP, urges Greek minister

ATHENS — Greece is spearheading a group of five EU countries pushing for migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the EU to be sent to countries such as Rwanda from as early as next year.

Greece’s Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said in an interview that by the first half of 2027, the so-called Core Group of nations — Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands — aims to have a pilot project in place to send rejected asylum-seekers to designated countries outside the bloc.

He added that the project should be fully operational by the second half of the year — coinciding with Greece taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. The intervention comes as Europe continues to grapple with a decade-long migration crisis which has galvanized support for populist-nationalist parties across the continent.

Plevris emphasized that the plan does not entail establishing return facilities but rather designates return countries. “We’re not talking about centers, in the sense that someone whose asylum is rejected is sent to a closed facility in a third country,” he said. “If your asylum has been rejected, you will either return to your country of origin or to a third country outside the EU.”

According to two EU diplomats familiar with the issue who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter freely, the first deal will be with Rwanda. Uganda and Uzbekistan are also reportedly under discussion as possible return countries.

Plevris said the countries under consideration already have large migrant populations and camps to accommodate them, adding that the Core Group nations “are open to whatever framework the countries there want — whether they want to talk about camps, or broader integration programs.”

Rwanda has been at the center of various offshore migration plans. In 2022, the U.K. announced a controversial multimillion-pound deal with Kigali to deport asylum-seekers to the country to have their claims processed. The scheme was abandoned after years of legal challenges.

The timetable proposed by Plevris might be ambitious, given that several crucial elements of the agreement remain up in the air. The minister said members of the Core Group are currently in discussions with international organizations to establish monitoring processes that would ensure human rights are respected in third countries to which migrants will be deported.

“Obviously, we’re not going to transfer this authority elsewhere,” he added. “We want to have the expertise and the presence of international organizations, but the responsibility lies with the five countries, jointly.”

The financing of the plan — an issue which can be contentious with voters — would also have to come from the Core Group. “We want to have a financially realistic project,” Plevris said, adding that members of the group want the Commission to eventually have an active role in the process.

The minister acknowledged that the plan would not lead to huge numbers of migrants being outsourced to third countries. “In reality, it is another means of exerting pressure that could increase voluntary returns,” he said. “It’s an unprecedented undertaking. Even though other countries have attempted something similar in the past, this is the first time it’s being attempted since the EU regulation was passed.”

On Thursday, at a meeting of EU interior ministers, Plevris will also submit Greece’s plan to deal with emergency migratory pressures — temporarily suspending asylum applications for newly arrived people. Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis first presented this idea in an Op-Ed published on POLITICO after tens of thousands of migrants crossed the border into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta.

“The EU migration will only work when Europe’s migration flows are managed,” Plevris said, adding that the bloc needs a mechanism to deal with emergencies.

Greece has been repeatedly accused of violating EU regulations for alleged illegal pushbacks of migrants. “Greece protects its borders in accordance with international law, and it says frankly that it will not apologize to anyone for protecting its borders,” the minister added.

Plevris, who has expressed hard-line views on migration, has expressed his support and admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach on the issue. “He gave the momentum that led to a change in migration policy, and essentially helped many groups —including us — who believed in a stricter immigration policy to see it materialize,” said Plevris.

He also confirmed that European prosecutors are investigating how Greece used EU funds to construct migrant camps. “We have been asked for data and information regarding audits and we have provided them, but there have been no further developments,” he added.