Thanos Plevris talks at the plenary session of Hellenic Parliament during a discussion on the introduction of the bill of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum on legal migration in Athens on February 4, 2026.Dimitris Kapantais/SOOC/AFP via Getty Images

Send rejected asylum-seekers out of EU ASAP, urges Greek minister – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

ATHENS — Greece is spearheading a group of five EU countries pushing for migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the EU to be sent to countries such as Rwanda from as early as next year.

Greece’s Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said in an interview that by the first half of 2027, the so-called Core Group of nations — Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands — aims to have a pilot project in place to send rejected asylum-seekers to designated countries outside the bloc.

He added that the project should be fully operational by the second half of the year — coinciding with Greece taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. The intervention comes as Europe continues to grapple with a decade-long migration crisis which has galvanized support for populist-nationalist parties across the continent.