Greece’s new refugee and asylum law begins on January 1, 2020

An asylum law speeding application processing for scores of thousands of refugees and migrants – as well as deportations – will begin in Greece on Jan. 1, 2020 in a bid to quell a new rising of a crisis that had abated.

More than 44,000 more arrived after New Democracy won July 7 snap elections, swelling the numbers to more than 96,000, including some 45,000 on Greek islands, sent there from Turkey where human traffickers are being allowed to keep operating during an essentially-suspended 2016 swap deal with the European Union.

They had gone to Turkey fleeing war and strife in their homelands, especially Afghanistan and Syria’s civil war, refugees joined by economic migrants from areas such as sub-Saharan African who aren’t eligible for sanctuary and will be vetted.

Most of those held in detention centers and camps have waited two years or more for asylum applications to be reviewed, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised would be sped up.

Human rights groups and activists are upset with elements of the new law, especially giving priority to refugees from war zones and giving them preference.

“There is a misunderstanding regarding the EU-Turkey statement,” a Migration Ministry official who wasn’t named told Kathimerini. “It concerns Syrians who can be sent back to Turkey, despite having a refugee profile and provided that their life is not at risk.”

The official said Turkey is getting EU monies to help that group.

Some 13,000 Syrians landed in Greece in 2019. “If we could return half of them to Turkey, it would help a great deal,” the official said although Turkey has taken back only about 2,000 in total the last 3-½ years.

Some critics have said the change in asylum rules has caused a spike in inflows. The director of the Asylum Service on Lesbos, Marios Kaleas told the newspaper, “I do not think that political decisions in Greece influence arrivals from Turkey.”