The Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission has reiterated several times the importance of examining the merits of these applications for international protection, in accordance with EU law.473 On 7 December 2021, the Commissioner issued a response to a joint open letter by civil society organisations, where she reiterated the Commission’s continued concerns over individuals left in “legal limbo” in Greece.474 As she stated, “in line with Article 38(4) of the Asylum Procedures Directive, the Greek authorities should ensure that applicants whose applications have been declared inadmissible under the Joint Ministerial Decision and who are not being admitted to Türkiye should be given access to the in-merits asylum procedure”.475 According to UNHCR’s position and recommendations on the Safe Third Country declaration by Greece:476 ‘The absence of a mutually agreed readmission arrangement or delay in the implementation elevates the risk of protracted detention and situations of legal limbo for those concerned who may not be readmitted, increasing human misery and in all likelihood, fuelling further onward movement within the EU. Where cooperation is not mutually agreed to, or required protection safeguards are not in place, an in-merit examination of asylum claims of applicants of those nationality groups should take place without undue delay to avoid legal limbo situations.’ According to a Communication from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, ‘[r]esponding to repeated requests from the Greek authorities and the European Commission regarding the resumption of return operations, Türkiye has stated that no return operation would take place unless the alleged pushbacks along the Turkish-Greek border stop and Greece revokes its decision to consider Türkiye a Safe Third Country’ (24 May 2022).477 Despite the fact that readmissions to Türkiye have been suspended since March 2020, the Asylum Service continues not to apply Article 38(4) of the Procedures Directive to applicants whose application is examined on the admissibility under the safe third country concept vis-à-vis Türkiye. Thus, applicants subject to the Joint Ministerial Decision, whose applications have been rejected as inadmissible, are deprived of access to an in-merits asylum procedure and they face the risk to remain in legal limbo, without access to reception conditions and health care and at risk of detention. In 2023, a total of 64.212 new asylum applications were registered in Greece, 57,891 of which were first time asylum applications and 6,321 subsequent asylum applications.478 Of the total (disaggregated data is not available), close to half (47.5%) were submitted by nationalities impacted by the JMD and specifically 21,8% by Syrian nationals, 14,8% by Afghan nationals, 6,3% by Pakistani nationals and 4,6% by Somali nationals.479 It should be noted that an application for the annulment of the JMD was submitted before the Greek Council of State and its examination was discussed on 11 March 2022.480 In a decision issued on 3 February 2023,481 the Council of State referred a question to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on the 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 Answers given by Ms Johansson on behalf of the European Commission, EN P-000604/2021, 1 June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/47Zw2Te; E-003875/2021, 18 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/4ak50In; E004131/2021, 21 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3RtSNJu. Joint CSO Open Letter, Denying food: instead of receiving protection people go hungry on EU soil, 26 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3uyeEEb. Ylva Johansson, Response to the 26 October 2021 Joint CSO Open Letter, Ares S(2021)8048555, 7 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Jyt7V4. UNHCR, UNHCR’s Position and Recommendations on the Safe Third Country Declaration by Greece, 2 August 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3EuyKm1. European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament sixth annual report on the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, 24 May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/417mB1B, p.3. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2023 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yc2stzh7, table 8c. Ibid. table 8d. GCR, “Εκδικάστηκε ενώπιον του ΣτΕ η αίτηση ακύρωσης της Απόφασης με την οποία η Τουρκία χαρακτηρίστηκε ασφαλής τρίτη χώρα”, 15 March 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/365HUJ9. Plenary of the Council of State, Decision no 177/2023, 3 February 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3Gs6GSc. 101