Greece pushes EU to suspend asylum during mass migration surges

EU migration pact improvements face criticism for insufficient tools to manage large-scale migration emergencies.Greece has urged the European Union to allow member states to temporarily suspend Asylum applications during periods of mass migration, arguing that current rules cannot handle emergencies such as the surge in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta this summer.The proposal was submitted to EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday during the Justice and Home Affairs Council, and appeared to draw support from some member states.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees flee to Chad as UN calls for fundinglist 2 of 3French court sentences 13 men over deadliest small-boat crossing to UKlist 3 of 3Migrant crossings to Europe by sea drop sharply amid heightened risks: IOMend of listGreek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said the EU’s migration pact, which took effect in June, had improved the bloc’s ability to manage migration flows but had not gone far enough.“In such cases, there should be enhanced border surveillance and suspension of Asylum,” he told reporters ahead of the meeting.Dutch Migration Minister Bart van den Brink backed the approach, saying mass arrivals like those in Ceuta should be “treated as a border management issue rather than an Asylum issue”.Spain estimates more than 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta in late July. While most have since returned, about 10,000 remain, reinforcing calls in some European capitals for a tougher approach.Anti-Immigration sentiment has remained a potent political force across Europe since more than a million people, many of them Syrians fleeing war, arrived in the bloc in 2015. The influx boosted support for nationalist and far-right parties and pushed many governments towards more restrictive migration policies centred on border controls, deterrence and returns.