Tony Blair has said that the best way to understand a country’s development and prosperity is to calculate how many people want to leave it, but also how many are willing to do anything to get there. This can say a lot about both Greece, as a country of the European Union, and the countries from which immigrants flood to Greece, in this case Pakistan.

On September 3, 2025, the Greek government passed a strict new legislative framework for immigration. The law provides for imprisonment of 2 to 5 years and a fine of up to €10,000 for migrants who do not return to their country within 14 days after their asylum application has been rejected. In addition, the period of detention was increased from 18 to 24 months and the possibility of legalisation abolished for immigrants living in the country without documents for more than seven years.

The Ministry of migration, through its minister Thanos Plevris, emphasised the priority of the rights of Greeks over those who are not entitled to asylum. However, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concerns that the new law could actually harm those who are entitled to international protection. Plevris called for the implementation of “immediate procedures” to quickly distinguish between refugees and others.

Greece has already returned hundreds of migrants on organised flights, with the aim of returning them to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt, while Frontex is investigating 12 possible cases of rights violations.

A protest against the new law curbing illegal immigration was organised by KEERFA (United Movement Against Racism and the Fascist Threat), an organisation that supports refugees and immigrants, was held in front of the National Assembly on the same day the law was passed, at which illegal Pakistani migrants took the lead.

KEERFA has expressed strong opposition to the new legislative framework on immigration, which particularly affects the Pakistani community. It argues that the new law intensifies discrimination and racist practices against immigrants, while reinforcing police arbitrariness and repressive policies.

In the lead up to the new law, KEERFA organised and supported demonstrations and protests including one on October 12, 2024 in Athens following the death of Pakistani migrant Mohammad Kamran Asik in a police station. KEERFA accused the police of attempting to cover up the incident and called for the resignation of those responsible. It also supported protesters’ basic demands, including maintaining the seven- and three-year immigration laws, providing legal documents to foreign workers, closing detention centres, and granting asylum to refugees.

The Pakistani population in Greece is among the most acutely affected by the new immigration law as, according to data from the migration ministry, the largest percentage of irregular immigrants in the country come from Pakistan.

Fearing repatriation after the law was passed, the Pakistani Community of Greece Unity (PCGU), led by Javed Aslam Arian, in collaboration with left-wing parties, called on members of the Pakistani community to participate in a KEERFA protest. A KEERFA poster emphasised that “the Pakistani community is with us in protest”, creating a united front. The protesters’ main demands were the retention of the seven- and three-year immigration laws, which would allow those who have been living in the country for a long time to continue to obtain legal status through documentation, the provision of legal documents for foreign workers living and working in Greece, the closure of immigration detention centres, and the provision of asylum to refugees with a genuine need for international protection.

We must now examine how Greece’s different political factions interpret the issue of immigrants and what stance they take towards them. Former Minister of Migration in the Mitsotakis government, Makis Voridis has been highly critical of Pakistani immigrants, focusing mainly on issues of irregular migration and security. In an interview with SKAI TV in May, he stated: “From now on, anyone who is in Greece illegally will never be legalised, will never obtain a residence permit.” This statement reflects the Mitsotakis government’s tough policy towards immigrants.

Leader of the Freedom Movement party, Zoe Konstantopoulou has expressed strong opposition to the Greek government’s recent legislative initiatives on immigration. On July 11, during a debate in parliament on a bill criminalising the stay of migrants without asylum, Konstantopoulou filed an objection on the grounds of unconstitutionality, describing the bill as a “legal framework for racism”, accusing the government of “destroying asylum” and “portraying asylum seekers as serious criminals.”

Konstantopoulou accused the government of promoting policies reminiscent of the Orbán regime in Hungary, abandoning humanitarian values and reinforcing the rhetoric of racism and xenophobia. Furthermore, she argued that these policies encourage the rise of the far right and the fascist threat in Greece.

On its front page shortly before the TIF, newspaper Avgi, the official newspaper of Syriza, warned: refugees are “paying the price” for immigration due to right-wing concessions to the far right, calling for the withdrawal of the bill that “adopts far-right practices”. Meanwhile, the left-wing newspaper Syntachtes’, in an article entitled ‘Bill criminalises refugees and immigration’, criticised the legislation with the official slogan “Imprisonment or Deportation”. It emphasised that the framework intensifies repression, threatens to create social chaos, and leaves thousands of people without access to asylum or legal standing.

In my opinion, the issue of immigrants cannot be examined in a simplistic manner because it is taking place at such a difficult economic and social juncture for the Greek people, even prompting Elon Musk to tweet that Greece is currently dying, as 700 Greek schools remained closed this September due to a lack of students.

When discussing the issue of migrant management, we must take into account who the active working population of Greece as a host country is, how much it will be affected by the influx of immigrants, and to what extent these immigrants are willing to integrate culturally into Greece. In the case of immigrants from Pakistan, we must not overlook the fact that these are people with a low level of education who could mainly do manual labour and whose deep religious prejudices of Islam makes their cultural integration into Greece almost impossible to support.

Neighbouring Italy, under the government of Giorgia Meloni, has implemented strict immigration policies, including restrictions on rescue operations in the Mediterranean and agreements with countries such as Libya to prevent departures. However, at the same time, it has approved the Flow Decree for 2026-2028, which increases the granting of work permits for immigrants, including workers from Pakistan, with the aim of filling gaps in the labour market. In

addition, Italy has signed agreements with Pakistan and Bangladesh to combat irregular migration and human trafficking.

The European Pact on Migration and Asylum (2024) provides for mechanisms for distributing asylum seekers according to each member state’s GDP, population, and the degree of pressure it already faces (e.g., frontline countries). Under the new European Pact, Greece could accept a lower percentage of Pakistani immigrants than Germany or France, due to its smaller GDP and population. Therefore, the latest bill to combat illegal immigration is considered necessary, even if it seems harsh, as it brings to mind the example of passengers on an airplane in a crisis situation, where each passenger must first put on their own oxygen mask before helping their neighbour.

Dimitra Staikou is a lawyer and human rights advocate. She works as a journalist for Skai.gr and Huffpost.Gr as well as other international news web sites such as Modern Diplomacy and Global Research.