Ceuta’s migrant crisis has reverberated around Athens, exposing an awkward political silence from Greece’s left wing parties PASOK and ELAS over Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whom they’ve long praised.
Polls showing majority support for stricter migration policy left leaders Nikos Androulakis and Alexis Tsipras little room to voice solidarity. The conservative government, meanwhile, is pushing an EU emergency framework for cases where mass migration is used as a hybrid-war weapon, as seen in Evros in 2020 and now in Ceuta.
During Greece’s EU presidency starting in July 2027, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Greece plan to open Africa’s first migrant return hub under the EU’s new Return Regulation. Frontex recorded about 49,000 irregular EU crossings early this year, down 37% from 2025. Spain returned 48,000 of 50,000 arrivals to Morocco within 48 hours.
POLITICS MIGRATION NIKOS ANDROULAKIS ALEXIS TSIPRAS PASOK GREEK LEFT ALLIANCE (ELAS)
