Greek Prime Minister calls for new EU measures against the instrumentalization of migration

On August 4, 2026, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis published an interview in Politico, warning that the European Union faces a critical security shift where migration is being used as a tool for geopolitical coercion. He urged the bloc to adopt new measures to address the systemic instrumentalization of migrant flows, which he defines as a form of hybrid pressure.

Highlighting recent history, Mitsotakis cited incidents at the Evros river, the Belarus border, and Ceuta as evidence that current European asylum and migration frameworks are insufficient. He emphasized that these sudden, coordinated migrant movements challenge the integrity of external borders. The Prime Minister argued that member states must adopt a unified strategy to prevent third parties from manipulating humanitarian issues for political gain, while simultaneously balancing the need for security with the preservation of European humanitarian values.

This call for reform comes amidst growing concerns over how external actors exploit borders to destabilize the bloc. Mitsotakis’s proposal seeks to strengthen the collective resilience of the European Union against such hybrid threats, signaling a push for more stringent border policies and coordinated defensive actions at the EU level.