Greece has a long history of (formal, informal and irregular) return migration policies and practices that have taken different forms depending on the political and socioeconomic context, including forced returns, deportations, push backs, spontaneous returns, and assisted voluntary returns. Since 2015, a number of developments foregrounded specific return procedures and practices, such as the EU-Türkiye Statement and the increasing number of land and sea pushbacks (as reported/evidenced especially after the events in the Greek-Turkish border region of Evros in 2020). More recently, further institutionalisation of returns can be observed with the establishment of the Directorate of Returns and Withdrawals in 2020 and the position of a National Coordinator of Returns in late 2023 within the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MMA).
The analysis of the legal and institutional framework governing returns in Greece highlights a number of gaps in terms of legal certainty, consistency and guaranties. The legal framework is characterised by ambiguity, mainly due to preceding legal arrangements on 'administrative expulsion' that remain in force. Particularly, Law 3907/2011 which transposed the Return Directive 2008/115/EC into the Greek legislation and determines the operation of returns, coexists with Law 3386/2005 concerning the administrative expulsions of Third Country Nationals. An additional complexity also arises as regards the multiple national, supranational and international actors involved in returns.
While the responsibility to design and implement migration policy as a whole lies with the MMA, the police authorities also have wide legal competences in return migration governance, especially in what concerns administrative expulsions, return decisions, detention and the management of the detention system. Existing legal safeguards against return, as for example those applying to minors, pregnant women, crime victims etc., are implemented under the proviso that a TCN is not considered dangerous for national security reasons, something which is again decided by the police.
As a result, a number of inconsistencies emerge, including the fact that the respective state administration is often able to bypass the procedures of the Directive and apply the deportation procedures. This is the case, for example, with expulsion decisions issued against TCNs illegally entering Greece at the borders even if the TCNs subsequently apply for international protection and obtain a permit to stay in the country; something that raises issues of compatibility with Article 2 para. (2) (a) of the Return Directive.
Furthermore, the implementation of return, in most of its forms, is usually closely linked to detention as detention is the rule rather than the exception when there is a decision for return or deportation. This becomes evident as administrative detention is used extensively, on the grounds of public order and national security reasons, in some cases solely on the grounds of illegal entry, and despite numerous reports evidencing that the existing detention conditions severely violate detainees' rights and dignity.
Existing legal inconsistencies are accompanied by poor data availability on returns. Data inconsistencies exist among different data categories (e.g. between administrative procedures and actual enforcement of returns), different data sources and different terms used. These observations may partly point to shifts in systems of recording and reporting on data over the years, alongside (in)consistency between statistical and legal categories and (lack of) convergence with EU terminology.
Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration program run by IOM provides the ground for a more humane approach to return migration, even if the context in which it operates is one of coercion, as it also addresses migrants who have been issued with a return decision and even detainees. Nevertheless, it remains underfunded if compared to other types of forced removals, a choice that reveals the political priorities of the authorities in current return and – more generally – migration issues.
Authors: Ηatziprokopiou, P., Kandylis, G., Komita, K., Koutrolikou, P., Papatzani, E., & Tramountanis, A.
