A total of 175 applications for annulment were lodged before the Administrative Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki against second instance negative decisions in 2024, of which seven were either rejected or the applicants resigned, and 168 were still pending at the end of the year. 466 During the same period, a total of 486 decisions on applications for annulment were issued, of which 32 were accepted, 82 were rejected as unfounded, 318 were rejected as inadmissible and 54 concerned resignations.467 1.5. Legal assistance Indicators: Regular Procedure: Legal Assistance 1. Do asylum applicants have access to free legal assistance at first instance in practice? Yes With difficulty No ❖ Does free legal assistance cover: Representation in interview Legal advice 2. Do asylum applicants have access to free legal assistance on appeal against a negative decision in practice? Yes With difficulty No ❖ Does free legal assistance cover Representation in courts Legal advice Asylum applicants have the right to consult, at their own cost, a lawyer or other legal advisor on matters relating to their application.468 Any qualified lawyer registered with a Bar Association in Greece has the right to assist or intervene in an international protection case without additional training required. This includes lawyers employed by NGOs. Legal assistance at first instance No state-funded legal aid is provided at first instance, nor is there a legal obligation to provide it. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGO) provide free legal assistance and counselling to asylum applicants at first instance, depending on their capacity and presence across the country. The scope of these services remains limited, taking into consideration the number of applicants in Greece and the needs throughout the whole asylum procedure – including registration of the application, first and second instance, judicial review and the complexity of the procedures followed. As noted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ‘[t]he Working Group urges the Government to expand the availability of publicly funded legal aid so that persons seeking international protection have access to legal advice at all stages of the process, from the moment of filing their application until a final determination is made’.469 Legal assistance at second instance Free legal assistance is provided to applicants in appeal procedures before the Appeals Authority under the terms and conditions set in the Ministerial Decision 788502/2023. 470 According to Ministerial Decision 494476/2023, the legal assistance scheme in appeal procedures is covered under AMIF (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund) for the period of 2021-2027.471 According to Joint Ministerial Decision 788502/2023 regulating the State-funded legal aid scheme, asylum applicants are entitled to legal aid as long as they are not represented by another lawyer. The application for legal aid must be filed before the submission of the appeal.472 Article 2 of Ministerial Decision no 494476/2023 stipulates that, in order to be included in the Registry of Lawyers maintained by the Asylum Service, a lawyer must be an active and non-suspended member of a Greek Bar Association that has not been disciplined by the Bar and that holds very good knowledge of 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 – International Protection | Appendix A, available in Greek here, table 12a. Ibid., table 12b. Article 71(1) IPA and Article 76(1) Asylum Code. UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Addendum: Mission to Greece, A/HRC/45/16/Add.1, 29 July 2020, available here, para. 85. Ministerial Decision 788502/2023, Gov. Gazette 42/B/11.01.2023. MD 3449/2021 was repealed by MD 788502/2023 according to Article 6(2) of MD 788502/2023, MD 3686/2020 was repealed by MD 3449/2021 according to Article 6 of MD 3449/2021, MD 12205/2016 was repealed by MD 3686/2020 according to Article 6(2) MD 3686/2020. Ministerial Decision 494476/2023, Gov. Gazette 6393/B/07.11.2023. Gov. Gazette 42/B/11.01.2023. 89