Immigration Minister Thanos Plevris’s intention to fundamentally review the benefits given to immigrants in our country and even the menus in refugee structures is indicative of the new doctrine that the government is in fact implementing with a harder line on immigration. A doctrine that had already been launched, but what happened in Libya the other day has accelerated the decisions.

But the events of the past few days, however, the events of the past few days have made the decision more urgent.

The result is that for the past two days, the flows have been noticeably smaller, as it is obvious that on the Libya side as well, the new facts on the ground are being weighed down. Besides, those who arrive by sea in our country will no longer be able to apply for asylum and will be taken directly to closed structures around the country, with no right of exit.

In practice, they will be imprisoned and will simply await deportation unless they decide to leave the country voluntarily. Of course, the success of the new strategy with the reintroduction of the “Evros model” will be judged in the long run, as the flows have been “explosive” in recent days towards Gavdos and the coast of Crete.

Plevris also suppressed the government’s decisions yesterday in Parliament, in the face of the left-wing parties who sword against it, while Nikos Androulakis announced that PASOK is voting “present” on the controversial amendment. Interestingly, the Immigration Ministry rushed to present the amendment within hours of the prime minister’s announcement, while government officials such as George Gerapetritis and Pavlos Marinakis they point out that it does not contain passages contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and is simply a repetition of the “precedent” of Evros from 2020.

Conference on the closed centre

That being said, today at the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, decisions will be taken on the siting of a closed centre in Heraklion, Crete. The former Zographakis camp in Kastelli in the Municipality of Minoa Pedialis, covering an area of about 17 acres, is reportedly the most likely site the government is considering to house the centre. However, the mayor of the area, Vassilis Kegeroglou, appeared skeptical yesterday, though this does not change the government’s stated intention.

Today’s meeting will be attended by, among others, Mr Plevris, Deputy Minister (and MP for Chania) Sevi Voloudaki, regional governor of Crete Stavros Arnaoutakis, Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Yiannis Kefalogiannis and the president of the PED of Crete and mayor of Rethymnon, Giorgios Marinakis.

New operation in Benghazi

However, while the government is hardening its doctrine at home, it does not want to cut bridges with the Haftar regime in Benghazi. Yesterday, on the sidelines of the Conference on Reconstruction of Ukraine in Rome, Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Ms. Meloni, Ms. von der Leyen and Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela, to make another visit in the coming days to eastern Libya, as cooperation with the regime is seen as imperative.

It is no coincidence, moreover, that Athens has not officially chosen particularly sharp tones towards Mr Haftar, whom Giorgios Gerapetritis had visited a few days earlier. The timing of the new visit, again led by European Migration Commissioner Magnus Bruner, will be determined soon, with the Commission again taking the lead.