Overview of main changes since the previous report update The report was previously updated in September 2025. International Protection ❖ Key asylum statistics: The Asylum Service experienced a 20% decrease in first-time asylum applications but a notable 33% increase in subsequent applications compared to 2024. Despite fewer first-time applicants, total pending applications at first instance rose by 6%. The majority of applicants were from Afghanistan (15,296), Egypt (9,548), Sudan (8,179), Syria (3,511), and Bangladesh (3,132). A total of 37,868 in-merit decisions were issued in 2025, the majority of which granted refugee (64.3%) or subsidiary protection (6.3%) status. Asylum procedure ❖ Arrivals: Total arrivals to Greece dropped by about 21%, to 48,298, in 2025 (from 60,886 in 2024). However, entry dynamics shifted drastically toward the south, with Crete emerging as the primary entry point, receiving 41% of all arrivals, followed by Evros (14.7%) and Samos (10.6%). Main nationalities of sea arrivals were Afghanistan (24%), Sudan (22%), and Egypt (20%), with 68% of newcomers being men, 12% women, and 20% children. A total of 105 persons were reported as dead and missing by UNHCR. As in previous years, figures on entries may underrepresent the actual number of people attempting to access Greek territory due to continued reports of pushbacks. ❖ Push-back practices: Allegations of pushbacks continued to be reported in 2025, despite the landmark ECtHR Ruling in the case of A.R.E. v. Greece, which following the Court’s rejection of the Greek government’s request to refer the case before the Grand Chamber, became final in July 2025. During the year, GCR submitted 24 urgent requests for interim measures to the ECtHR on behalf of 131 asylum seekers at risk of summary expulsion, all of which were granted by the Court. The National Transparency Authority (NTA) has not made public any further investigations or recommendations on pushbacks in 2025. ❖ Pylos shipwreck: In February 2025, the Greek Ombudsman completed his independent inquiry, finding severe and reprehensible omissions of search and rescue duties by senior Coast Guard officers. In May 2025, the competent Prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court initiated criminal proceedings against 17 Coast Guard members. Although the cases of four senior officers were initially archived, the Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal accepted survivors' appeals in November 2025, bringing independent criminal charges against all four, including the (at the time) Head of the Coast Guard. ❖ Access to the procedure: In July 2025, pursuant to Article 79 L. 5218/2025, the Greek government imposed a three month (14 July to 14 October) suspension on the submission of asylum applications by persons arriving irregularly by watercraft from North Africa, resulting in the blanket administrative detention of newcomers. Systemic barriers to accessing asylum on the mainland, via the Ministry’s online platform, continued to be an issue of concern in 2025, further exacerbated by the halt in EU-funded interpretation services due to government payment delays exceeding €2.5 million. ❖ The safe third country concept: On 27 February 2025, the Greek Council of State (CoS) officially annulled the Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) designating Türkiye as a safe third country, establishing that the underlying legal criteria had not been properly assessed. In blatant disregard of this ruling, on 9 April 2025, the Greek government issued a new, identical JMD, re-designating Türkiye as a safe third country for applicants from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, before the CoS judgment was even finalised or published. Despite the government's persistence, the number of safe third country decisions fell sharply in 2025, recording a 78% 23