In Greece, NGOs that oppose migration policy are under control

Non-governmental organizations accused of opposing the Conservative government's migration policy are facing suspension. This measure, which is part of the authoritarian policies of Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, has raised eyebrows in the opposition press.
The Greek government is launching its hunt for NGOs. Continuing its policy of criminalizing migration, Athens wants to rein in non-governmental organizations and civil society actors who do not adopt the government's narrative. "Migration Minister Thanos Plevris is preparing to remove from the official registers all NGOs that, in one way or another, oppose the government's migration policy," Kathimerini announced .
Since the establishment in 2020 of an official register of non-governmental organizations working on migration issues, nearly one hundred NGOs now have access to the structures set up by the State.
"Over time, we have observed a phenomenon of registered NGOs opposing the decisions of the Greek state or migration policy. The current leadership has noted an intensification of anti-institutional behavior by certain NGOs," the center-right daily explains.
"While the state officially encourages illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily or to cooperate and be repatriated, NGOs with official access to structures urge them to do exactly the opposite. The elimination of these NGOs will put an end to their access to these structures and, consequently, to these phenomena," believes Kathimerini , thus adopting the position of the conservative government.
Greece announced a new crackdown on migration this summer and recently suspended asylum applications for three months after arrivals from Libya surged .
“Thanos Plevris wants to prove that he meant what he said when he said that border protection cannot be effective without death,” snarls the left-wing daily Efsyn . A former member of the far-right Laos party, Thanos Plevris was appointed Minister of Health in the conservative New Democracy government in 2021. He became Minister of Migration this summer, replacing another former Laotian MP, Makis Voridis.
“The ministry should support NGOs, not target them,” said UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor, while Amnesty International deplored “these worrying statements” and called on the government to “work with civil society to improve the treatment of people seeking protection in Greece.”
"How can anyone think that a government composed of members of the extreme right can have any respect for liberalism and institutions?"asks News247 , dismayed . "The current government is very far removed from the liberal model, having totally adopted 'Orbanism', perhaps more than any other European government," the opposition pure player chides.
“Thanos Plevris’s performance serves as a publicity campaign for the bill that his ministry has submitted to Parliament and which is expected to be voted on in early September,”Ta Nea jokes . Without taking an ideological position but with pragmatism, the Greek daily reminds us that “the continent needs workers for the jobs that Europeans do not want to – or can no longer – fill.”
Courrier International