'Historic": Greece Hails Landmark Overhaul Of EU Asylum, Migration Rules

Athens:

The migration minister for Greece, one of the countries worst affected by the arrivals of growing numbers of undocumented migrants, on Wednesday, hailed a landmark overhaul of EU asylum and migration rules as a "historic day".

"This is a major breakthrough and a very important step towards a common, and therefore more effective, management of the migration challenges of our time," Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Greece is under renewed migration pressure this year with over 7,000 arrivals in January and February, an increase of 184 percent compared to 2023 according to official data.

The country of 10.4 million has received over 460,000 asylum requests since 2013, including over 12,500 this year, the ministry said.

The islands in the northeastern Aegean Sea are one of the gateways for migrants seeking to reach the European Union.

Earlier Wednesday, three young girls were found dead off the rocky northwestern coast of the Greek island of Chios after their migrant vessel capsized, coastguard officials said, with a search and rescue operation still underway.

In June 2023, 82 people drowned and hundreds went missing when a migrant trawler sank off the coast of Pylos.

Several inquiries into the tragedy are still underway, with some NGOs accusing the Greek coastguard of delaying their response in coming to the migrants' aid.

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