May the family of Khalifa Haftar wanted yesterday through his son’s visit to the president of the Greek community of Benghazi to pass the message that he has no negative bias towards the country, after the “fiasco” with the postponement of the European delegation’s visit, the government has nevertheless decided to take a hard line and in fact to apply the “Evros model” to the Libyan Sea as well, due to the ongoing flows to Gavdos and the Cretan coast.

The situation of the last few days marked the end of tolerance, as it was a foregone conclusion for the Mansion House that the situation could not be dealt with by the conventional logic of managing the situation.

From the floor of the Parliament, Kyriakos Mitsotakis yesterday codified the three government interventions. First of all, the suspension for three months (at least) of the possibility to apply for asylum for those arriving from Libya in our country, with the result that these migrants are treated as detainees and taken to closed centres in the mainland, e.g. at the Malakasa detention centre.

To this end, the migrants will not be “transferred” to Crete, but will be taken directly to the port of Lavrio, and from there they will be distributed to structures where they will not have the right to leave or use a mobile phone.

It is an option that aims to make their stay in Greece a strong disincentive to make the journey from Tobruk, especially when it is a costly option.

Finally, the government announced the creation of at least one closed structure in Crete as well, most likely in Kastelli Heraklion. The details will be discussed at a meeting to be held on Friday at the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, with the participation of local officials in Crete.

“The Greek government is sending a message of determination that the passage to Greece is closing. And it sends it to all traffickers and to all their potential clients that the money they spend may be completely wasted, because it will be much more difficult than it was until now to be able to reach Greece by sea.” Kyriakos Mitsotakis pointed out yesterday, who also picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Nikos Androulakis for the events with Libya, stating that the PASOK government had the opportunity under George Papandreou to proceed to an agreement on the EEZ with the government of Tripoli, but the opportunity has passed.

Political weighting

It is a given that the hardening of the Greek government’s stance will not be without reactions from the European side, but the behaviour of the Haftar government and the limited possibility of agreement was the “excuse” for the government to “push the button” on measures that were under discussion. At the same time, the intensification of the flows from the Libyan side acted as an accelerator, along with the overloading of cities in Crete, where there was no structure to manage the migrants coming in.

In the government, they were also doing the political weighing at the same time, realising that prolonging these ugly pictures would be a signal of weakness of organised citizenship, at a time when the immigration “tests” the social cohesion of many European societies. Besides, it should be recalled that the government had gained political points when it repelled the “hybrid threat” in Evros in March 2020; in this case, there was no room to waste any more time.

In a move with interesting semantics, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris, even posted the government’s updated decisions on Twitter in English, apparently wanting to send a clear message to candidates for “passage” and traffickers. Besides, the Greek government does not ignore the fact that there are millions of migrants from African countries currently in Libya, who are flocking there in the hope of crossing to Europe.

Preparedness for every eventuality

On the operational side, no more Navy frigates are expected to be sent to the Libyan Sea, but there is a plan B for the more active role that Navy ships could play in case the “message”…is late in reaching Benghazi and the flows continue unabated.