for the authorities and case processing at the borders takes several months on average, applicants still have to comply with the very short time limits provided by Article 95(3) Asylum Code.521 In 2023, official data regarding the average time between the full registration of the asylum application and the issuance of a first instance decision under the fast-track border procedure was not available. The Greek Asylum Service is under constant pressure to accelerate the procedures on the islands, which was also one of the reasons invoked to amend the national legislation in late 2019. The FRA’s concerns related to the very limited processing time imposed in the scope of the previous legal framework and the impact that this could have on the quality of the procedure remain. More specifically, FRA emphatically underlined that “even with the important assistance the European Asylum Support Office provides, it is difficult to imagine how the processing time of implementing the temporary border procedure under Article 60(4) L.4375/2016 or the regular asylum procedure on the islands can be further accelerated, without undermining the quality of decisions. Putting further pressure on the Greek Asylum Service may undermine the quality of first instance asylum decisions, which in turn would prolong the overall length of procedure, as more work would be shifted to the appeals stage.”522 In 2023, the fast-track border procedure has continued being variably implemented depending on the profile and nationality of the asylum seekers concerned (see also Differential Treatment of Specific Nationalities in the Procedure). Within the framework of that procedure: v In 2023, data on in-merit and inadmissibility decisions issued by the Asylum Service in the fasttrack border procedure have not been provided by the MoMA, even though GCR has requested it. Instead, following the latest such 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 Reception Service, the Asylum Service and the Appeals Authority […]”.523 Yet a closer look at the public sources referred by the MoMA highlights that the specific data is not available. v In October 2021, notes by the Readmission Unit of the Hellenic Police Headquarters confirmed that Türkiye has indefinitely suspended returns from Greece since 16 March 2020. Due to this suspension, the Greek authorities stopped sending readmission requests to Türkiye based on the Common EU- Türkiye Statement for rejected asylum seekers.524 v According to MoMA’s Report 2023: “Returns under the EU - Turkey Joint Declaration have not been made since March 2020 due to Covid-19. It should be noted that despite the lifting of the Covid-19 measures the requests of missions-returns of the Greek authorities have not been answered”.525 v Despite this suspension, the Greek authorities refused to examine applications for international protection on their merits, as required by Article 91(5) of Asylum Code. Generally, in 2021, a large number of asylum seekers with specific profiles, meaning high recognition rate, (i.e., asylum seekers from Palestine, Eritrea and Yemen) had been granted refugee status on the basis of their administrative file, without undergoing an asylum interview, although this was not a consistent practice of the Asylum Service throughout the year or even between different Regional Asylum Offices applying the border procedure. This practice changed during 2022 and asylum seekers with specific profiles had to undergo asylum interviews. This has been the case for Eritrean nationals in 521 522 523 524 525 FRA, Update of the 2016 FRA Opinion on fundamental rights in the hotspots set up in Greece and Italy, 5 March 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2HeRg79, p. 26. Ibid., p. 26: ‘in Kos, the average time from the lodging of the application until the first interview with EASO was 41 days while from the date of the interview until the issuance of the recommendation by EASO was 45 days’. MoMA, Analysis and Studies Office, Reply to GCR’s request for information for the preparation of the updated Annual Report on Greece for 2023 in the framework of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) project, received on 14 February 2024 (protocol number: 55259). Fenix, Fenix calls the Greek authorities to examine the merits of asylum applications rejected on admissibility, 6 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3wUxsyN. MoMA, Report A, December 2023, Reception, Identification & Asylum Procedures, available at: https://tinyurl.com/5fmnbpmz. 113