Source: Ministry of Citizen Protection, Reply to parliamentary question, 25 Aug 2025 Official data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority – over 2/3 – of returns and deportations carried out in the first half of 2025 relate solely to nationals of Albania (1,012) and Georgia (796), not represented in arrivals from Evros and the Eastern and Central Mediterranean. Most returns were forced in the case of Albania, while most returns to Georgia were voluntary and implemented through IOM. Administrative appeal against the return or deportation order Deportation or return decisions issued by police authorities may be challenged by an administrative appeal before the Hellenic Police within a short deadline of five days. Official data confirm that the remedy in question remains almost inaccessible.8 Only 172 out of a total of 11,402 decisions taken by the Hellenic Police in the first half of 2025 were appealed (1.5%) By way of contrast on the accessibility of remedies, in the asylum process, where a return or deportation decision is taken upon rejection of an application for international protection,9 the Asylum Service issued 4,722 negative decisions on the merits and 3,247 inadmissibility decisions on asylum claims, while 9,019 appeals were lodged against Asylum Service decisions.10 The persisting, complete absence of free legal assistance from the state poses a constant barrier to the accessibility of the remedy for persons subject to deportation or return.11 This is in breach of Greece’s obligations and of systematic observations and recommendations by EU and national institutions.12 The administrative appeal before the Hellenic Police also remains an ineffective remedy for review of the legality of deportation and detention orders.13 Police authorities continue to generally dismiss administrative appeals by way of standardised decisions without assessing or responding to the submissions made by appellants. These concerns continue to be reflected in official Hellenic Police statistics. During the first half of the year, 161 administrative appeals were dismissed and only 11 were granted, i.e. only 6.4% of the very few appeals lodged so far this year. Resort to immigration detention 8 9 10 11 12 13 RSA, Νομοσχέδιο επιστροφών εκτός νομιμότητας και αποτελεσματικότητας, July 2025, 11-12. Article 87(8) Greek Asylum Code. Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Statistics, June 2025, 8-10. Article 28(4) L 3907/2011. European Commission, Report of the 2024 Revisit of Greece related to the serious deficiencies identified in 2021 in the field of return, C(2025) 4342, 3 July 2025, Annex, 6, 8; Plenary of Greek Bar Associations, ‘Μεταναστευτικό-Άσυλο: Η προσήλωση στη διεθνή και συνταγματική νομιμότητα αποτελεί μονόδρομο για κάθε ευνομούμενη δημοκρατική πολιτεία’, 18 August 2025, available here. RSA, Constant barriers to challenging immigration detention in Greece, May 2025, available here. RSA POLICY NOTE │ IMMIGRATION DETENTION | SEP 2025 4