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EU's proposed screening rules for migrants are based on "failed and violent" Greek law

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29 January 2021

The EU's proposed 'Screening Regulation', published as part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, foresees "pre-entry screening that should be applicable to all third-country nationals who are present at the external border without fulfilling the entry conditions or after disembarkation, following a search and rescue operation." Many of the provisions correspond to those introduced in Greek law in recent years, say a group of NGOs. They argue that understanding these similarities is essential for "preventing the entrenchment of failed and violent border policies in the ‘new‘ EU Pact on Migration and Asylum."

"The European Commission proposal for a Screening Regulation is largely modelled on the “reception and identification procedure” (διαδικασία υποδοχής και ταυτοποίησης), which applies to everyone irregularly arriving in Greece. The majority of its provisions correspond to provisions of Greek legislation in relation to key elements of the process such as restrictions on liberty, identification, registration, medical check, vulnerability assessment, and referral to asylum or other procedures. An in-depth understanding of the existent Greek procedure is therefore essential to identifying pitfalls and concerns with the Screening Regulation proposal at an early stage of negotiations within the Council and the European Parliament, with a view to preventing the entrenchment of failed and violent border policies in the ‘new‘ EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

To this end, the correlation table presented in the document below provides a point-by-point comparison of the main provisions of the Screening Regulation proposal with relevant domestic legislation, namely L 4375/2016 and L 4636/2019 (IPA). It also offers a detailed analysis of the implementation of the reception and identification procedure in practice, drawing on up-to-date information complemented by observations from civil society organisations. The information provided in the correlation table has been collected through the collaborative effort of Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), HIAS Greece, Greek Council for Refugees, Danish Refugee Council, Legal Centre Lesvos, FENIX Humanitarian Legal Aid, ActionAid Hellas and Mobile Info Team, and legal practitioners."

See: The Workings of the Screening Regulation: Juxtaposing proposed EU rules with the Greek reception and identification procedure (Legal Centre Lesvos, link)