Greece cannot waive its obligation to help asylum seekers by citing EU protocols, the UN has pointed out.
"As of now, we will not be accepting any new asylum applications for one month. We are invoking article 78.3 of the TFEU [EU treaty] to ensure full European support," Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Sunday (1 March).
He also closed the border and sent the army to keep people out.
Article 78.3 lays out how the EU handles asylum in "emergency situati...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.