NIKI’s Oikonomopoulos demands hidden Migration Ministry asylum files
A NIKI party MP is demanding quantitative details on how Greece's asylum approval rate dropped from 71.55% in 2024 to 40.7% in early 2026 and why reforms weren't implemented sooner.
Tasos Oikonomopoulos, MP for East Attica I, submitted a Request for Production of Documents to the Minister of Migration and Asylum, raising questions that concern the substance of migration policy and the administrative functioning of the Asylum Service. According to NIKI, the MP is examining what exactly changed in the strategy for handling applications for international protection, while the government has been managing the field exclusively since 2019.
Four factors attributed by the ministry
The Ministry of Migration and Asylum identified four main causes for this abrupt change: the rejection of applications from those who leave the interview process, new regulatory provisions concerning subsequent applications, the implementation of the concept of safe third country, and the modification of evaluation criteria for specific nationalities, which until recently had exceptionally high recognition rates.
The demand for quantitative analysis
Mr. Oikonomopoulos is demanding not general statements, but specific quantitative analysis of the contribution of each of the four factors to the overall reduction in approvals. The request rejects any vague response and any attempt at political impression management, demanding strict numerical accounting of the changes.
Questions of responsibility and timing
Moreover, the MP raises a critical political issue: if these interventions were so effective, why were they not implemented earlier? The government has been managing the migration field since 2019 with the same political responsibility, a fact that raises questions about the timing of such significant reforms.
Production of documents regarding planning and execution
The Request for Production of Documents specifically seeks data on the nationalities that underwent a change in practice, as well as the evidence justifying this change. Additionally, the names of those responsible and the administrative documentation accompanying these instructions are being requested.
At the same time, Mr. Oikonomopoulos is seeking comprehensive statistical data extending from 2019 to the present, including the total number of applications, approvals, rejections, revocations and pending reviews, broken down by year, country of origin, gender and age category. In parallel, the relevant policy documents are being requested—circulars, administrative orders, directives and reports—that document the new direction of the service.
Administrative and political transparency
With this submission, the Ministry is being called upon to produce documents that will reveal the actual mechanism of decisions, given that behind every percentage lie state orders, administrative decisions, responsibilities and the mechanics of state administration itself. The question being raised is whether the government has genuinely brought about a policy change or is attempting to present a statistical rearrangement as a political success.
