(1,289), Somalis (1,139), Nepalis (614), Sierra Leoneans (580), Yemenis (478), Palestinians (345), and stateless persons (321).29 The number of concluding remarks issued by EUAA was 604 in 2025, a decrease from 972 in 2024.30 Concluding remarks by the EUAA in 2025 mostly concerned Egyptians (197), Sierra Leoneans (113), stateless persons (45), Sudanese (34) and Guineans (31). 31 In Greece, in 2025, EUAA deployed personnel supported the identification of 11,124 vulnerabilities in the context of first and second line reception.32 In 2025, the EUAA delivered 188 training sessions to a total of 1,611 local staff members.33 5. Short overview of the asylum procedure The asylum procedure in Greece underwent substantial reforms throughout 2016, many of which were driven by the adoption of the EU-Türkiye statement of 18 March 2016. Following the July 2019 elections, the new government announced a more restrictive policy on migration and asylum.34 As a result, the national asylum legislation was radically re-amended. L. 4636/2019 (hereinafter International Protection Act / IPA), was adopted on 1 November 2019 and entered into force on 1 January 2020, replacing the previous legislation on asylum and reception. The IPA has been repeatedly and heavily criticised by national and international human rights bodies, including the Greek Ombudsperson,35 the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR),36 UNHCR,37 and several civil society organisations. 38 It has been categorised, inter alia, as an attempt to lower protection standards and create unwarranted procedural and substantive hurdles for people seeking international protection. As noted by UNHCR, the new Law reduces safeguards for people seeking international protection and creates additional pressure on the overstretched capacity of administrative and judicial authorities. The agency stated inter alia that “as a result, asylum seekers may be easily excluded from the process without having their international protection needs adequately assessed. This may expose them to the risk of refoulement”.39 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Information provided by the EUAA, 05 March 2026. According to the workflows developed jointly between EUAA and the Greek Asylum Service the drafting of concluding remarks by EUAA caseworkers is no longer required for a large share of cases (those examined on admissibility), while in parallel is has been agreed that for efficiency reasons (as regards EUAA support to first instance processing), EUAA caseworkers will be mainly conducting interviews, and should only draft concluding remarks for a limited number of cases: Information provided by the EUAA, 05 March 2026. Information provided by the EUAA, 05 March 2026. Information provided by the EUAA, 05 March 2026. Vulnerability assessments in Greece are performed under reception measures for residents of reception facilities. Information provided by the EUAA, 05 March 2026. These may include EUAA, national authorities and/or international organisations personnel. Amnesty International, Annual Report 2019, Greece, available at: https://bit.ly/2LDT5L6. Greek Ombudsman, Παρατηρήσεις στο σχέδιο νόμου του Υπουργείου Προστασίας του Πολίτη περί διεθνούς προστασίας, 23 October 2019, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2LAxCCH. GNCHR, Παρατηρήσεις της ΕΕΔΑ στο Σχέδιο Νόμου του Υπουργείου Προστασίας του Πολίτη «Περί Διεθνούς Προστασίας’, 24 October 2019, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3KPLpnH. UNHCR, UNHCR urges Greece to strengthen safeguards in draft asylum law, 24 October 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/3fXkm9j. See inter alia GCR, GCR’s comments on the draft bill “On International Protection” , 23 October 2019, available here; Amnesty International, Το προτεινόμενο σχέδιο νόμου για το άσυλο υποβαθμίζει την προστασίας και τα δικαιώματα των προσφύγων και παραβιάζει τα διεθνή πρότυπα, 24 October 2019, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3dWduqV, RSA, RSA Comments on the International Protection Bill, 21 October 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2LCfJU7; Actionaid Greece et al, 15 civil society organisations call upon the Government to organise a substantial public consultation prior of voting the draft law on asylum, 31 October 2019, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2Zf4tFe; Amnesty International et al., Joint press conference regarding the draft law on asylum, 30 October 2019, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3bDUgVr. UNHCR, UNHCR’s Intervention at the hearing for actors to the Standing Committee of Public Administration, Public Order and Justice of the Hellenic Parliament regarding the Draft Law on the Improvement of Migration Legislation, 9 May 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3dJEB8H. 30