The North African nation poses the biggest problem for the bloc in terms of arrivals, Thanos Plevris has said.
The EU might be on the verge of a new migrant crisis, with more than half a million people waiting in Libya alone to cross into Europe, Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris has said.
The bloc was first inundated by asylum seekers from the Middle East and Northern Africa during the 2015 refugee crisis, when a million migrants entered Europe, straining welfare systems and prompting tens of millions of European voters to turn to far-right political parties.
Greece remains one of the bloc’s main entry points, registering 48,771 arrivals in 2025, according to UNHCR data. According to the UN refugee agency, 7,589 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in the Mediterranean country this year as of May 3, including 5,615 by sea.
Athens has introduced a number of tough policy measures in a bid to stem the flow over the past years, including detention for those denied asylum. Commenting on the situation on Sunday, Plevris said that Greece was “the first country to criminalize illegal residence” and would not allow those denied protection to just roam free.
“Those who are not entitled to asylum will be detained,” the minister told a local broadcaster, adding that Athens would “operate within the law but will go to its limits to protect the borders.”
He also described the situation in Libya as the biggest problem faced by his country and the EU. According to Plevris, around 550,000 people have gathered there and are now seeking to enter Europe.
In February, Plevris also announced that it was working together with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark to create “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers outside of the EU’s borders, with Africa being the preferred destination.
Libya became a key transit point for human trafficking and migration to Europe via the Mediterranean following a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that led to the overthrow and assassination of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The EU has struggled to manage the migration crisis since 2015, with Greece, Italy, and Spain receiving the highest number of arrivals across the Mediterranean.
AS EUROPE’S migrant crisis grows right across the continent, many in the Russian media are recalling the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi’s prophecy made several months before his violent death.
‘Now listen you, people of NATO. You’re bombing a wall which stood in the way of African migration to Europe, and in the way of Al-Qaeda terrorists. This wall was Libya.
‘You’re breaking it. You’re idiots, and you will burn in hell for the thousands of migrants from Africa and for supporting Al-Qaeda. It will be so. I never lie. And I do not lie now,’ Gadaffi said in an open letter obtained by the Russian daily Zavtra and published in May 2011 several months before the Libyan leader was killed.
Since the beginning of this year over 500,000 refugees have arrived in Libya and are waiting to cross into Europe.
Who was it who brutally killed their leader and turned the country, that was once prospering, into a failed state. Serves you f***ing right.
Until there is investment in humans rather than arms there will no peace.