Under the regular procedure, the interview takes place at the premises of the RAO on the designated day and is conducted by one caseworker. The personal interview of adult asylum seekers takes place without the presence of the applicant’s family members, unless the competent Asylum Service Officer considers their presence necessary.307 Moreover, the personal interview must take place under conditions that ensure appropriate confidentiality.308 However, GCR and other civil society organisations have expressed concerns relating to confidentiality in certain RAO or AAU due to the lack of appropriate spaces, lack of isolation and technical difficulties. For example, and as reported, this was the case in the RAO of Lesvos, where registrations and interviews were carried out with the doors of the case workers’ offices open, in breach of the principle of confidentiality.309 The person conducting the interviews should be sufficiently qualified to take into account the personal or general circumstances regarding the application, including the applicant’s cultural origin. In particular, the interviewer must be trained on the special needs of women, children and victims of violence and torture.310 In case of female applicants, the applicant can request a case worker/interpreter of the same sex. If this is not possible, a note is added to the transcript of the interview.311 The EUAA’s role in the regular procedure Following the amendments introduced by L 4540/2018, which were maintained in the Asylum Code,312 the EUAA (formerly EASO) can be involved in the regular procedure.313 EUAA personnel providing services at the Asylum Service premises are bound by the Asylum Service Rules of Procedure.314 The main form of support provided by EUAA caseworkers includes the conduct of interviews with applicants and the drafting of opinions to the Asylum Service, which retains responsibility for issuing a decision on the asylum application. The personnel involved in the regular procedure should be Greek-speaking case workers.315 In 2023, the number of interviews carried out by EUAA caseworkers in Greece continued to decrease, compared to previous years, to interviews in the asylum cases of 7,272 applicants. Of these, 77% related to the top 10 citizenships of applicants interviewed by the EUAA, in particular Somalis (1,620), Afghans (687), Pakistanis (592) and Eritrean (538).316 The number of concluding remarks issued by EUAA decreased to 776 in 2023, a significant drop compared to 2022 (5,071). This is due to the fact that, following the June 2021 Joint Ministerial Decision designating Turkey as a safe third country for applicants from five of the most common countries of origin in Greece, the drafting of concluding remarks by EUAA caseworkers is no longer required for a large share of cases, that is those examined on admissibility.317 Relevant data on the role of the EUAA in the asylum procedure (conduct of interviews, drafting of opinions and/or concluding remarks etc) were not provided by the MoMA. Specifically, following the relevant request sent by GCR in January 2024, the MoMA replied by referring GCR to the Ministry’s website “and in particular at the link https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/ [where] the monthly newsletters are published, alongside relevant annexes, which include summary and detailed statistical data on the work of the First 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 Article 82(10) Asylum Code. Article 82(11) Asylum Code. Letter to the Head of RAO Lesvos signed by the Legal Organizations active in Lesvos – Members of the Lesvos Legal Aid sub-Working Group: Greek Council for Refugees, European Lawyers in Lesvos, Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid, HIAS Greece, Legal Centre Lesvos, PRAKSIS, Refugee Support Aegean, 15 February 2023, on file with the author. Article 82(12)(a) Asylum Code. Article 82(5) Asylum Code. Article 69(16) Asylum Code. Article 69(16) Asylum Code. Article 1(2) Asylum Service Director Decision No 3385 of 14 February 2018. Article 69(16) Asylum Code. Information provided by the EUAA, 26 February 2024. Information provided by the EUAA, 26 February 2024. 72