A draft law on migration codifying new EU policy, called the “Pact on Migration and Asylum,” was posted online for public consultation Tuesday. It will be accessible until May 25.
In line with the new EU policy, screening of asylum applicants will be sped up at the border, or rather the reception centers. Asylum applicants who are unlikely to need protection, mislead the authorities or present a security risk will be deported promptly. A common EU database of applicants will be upgraded.
Although the EU wants the policy implemented starting in July and promises more “efficient returns,” there no EU-wide law defining repatriation procedures. Five of Greece’s seven reception centers are on Eastern Aegean islands, where migrant flows have almost dried up, while the island of Crete, where the bulk of migrant arrivals take place, there is no such center.