With developments in Syria being “the elephant in the room”, the KYSEA is meeting today at 10:00 under Kyriakos Mitsotakis, where all the latest data will be evaluated and decisions will be taken regarding the treatment of Syrian asylum seekers in Greek structures. This is because the risk that many of those who came to Greece from the Assad regime, which no longer exists, no longer applies as a reason for international protection.

According to protothema.gr, the recommendation of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum will be to freeze until further notice the granting of asylum decisions to Syrians in Greek refugee structures. These are almost 9,500 people, who, according to the data so far, were presumed to be refugees, but now the data has changed. The Minister of Immigration and Asylum Nikos Panagiotopoulos was yesterday at the EU Internal Affairs Council, where the new data were discussed for the first time at European level, while a few days ago he had a relevant meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximou Mansion.

On the same day, at a meeting with the President of the Council of Ministers in Brussels, he also met with the President of the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday.

As competent sources point out, now the procedure for examining asylum applications is de facto oriented to the new data. The main problem, of course, is that there is still no successor situation in the long-suffering country, which is “flirting” with “salamisation”. “We are all waiting for information on what is going on in Syria so that we can have an informed opinion on the claims of those who are filing a new request,” a competent government source told protothema.gr. However, the same sources point out that in recent days there has been a clear decrease in flows especially from Syria and more broadly in recent weeks a de-escalation in numbers.

In any case, however, a comprehensive attempt will be made to map the new situation in the region, taking into account information from security and diplomatic sources.

Voluntary returns of migrants

The crucial thing, however, that emerged from yesterday’s meeting of immigration and asylum ministers is the European exhortation to Syrian asylum seekers who wish to do so to return home. “The great uncertainty was noted, which does not allow much room for definitive assessments. But we all agreed on the need to start working on a plan for the return, voluntary at first, of any Syrian citizens who wish to return to their country,” Panagiotopoulos said after the meeting. Competent sources, however, point out that there are currently no definitive details on this mechanism, as the Europeans are also looking for a …interlocutor in Syria and the situation will remain fluid for a considerable period of time.

They are not looking for a solution to the Syrian crisis, but they are still waiting for a temporary solution to the situation.

Defence on the table

Beyond the situation in Syria, however, and ahead of Mitsotakis’ postponed trip to Lebanon, which will probably take place early next week, a number of arms programs will be on the table. The Kysea is asked to approve the plan drawn up by the Ministry of National Defence for the Greek missile shield to be ready by 2027, at a cost of more than 1 billion. It will also approve the establishment of the interdisciplinary Construction and Natural Disaster Response Command, which will work with the Civil Protection, while the so-called “loitering munitions”, which are also refer to as…kamikaze drones, will also get the green light. They have explosive warheads and generally roam around their “areas of responsibility”, crashing into targets that are detected, resulting in their destruction or damage to them.