Greece plans to deploy navy warships near Libya’s territorial waters in a bid to curb irregular migration to the country, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday.
Speaking during a meeting with the Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas, Mitsotakis said the move had followed an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers on Sunday.
"Unfortunately, we have seen several incidents in recent days that force us to act in a preventive and deterrent manner more strongly," Greece's PM said.
Last week, Greece saw a spike in migrant arrivals, with 731 migrants, including many children, arriving on the islands of Crete and Gavdos in the space of 24 hours. Most migrants came from Egypt, Eritrea, Pakistan, and Sudan and had departed from Libya.
Mitsotakis said the move would be done "as a precautionary measure, and always in cooperation with the Libyan authorities and the other European powers" to "send a message that [migrant] smugglers will not be in charge of who enters our country".
"I think it is a move that is imperative under the present circumstances and obviously the issue of Libya will be raised by me as well at the European Council next Thursday. I expect that there will be relevant conclusions that will fully cover the Greek positions," he added.
Arrivals surged last year, with over 60,000 migrants landing in Greece — the majority by sea — compared to around 48,000 in 2023, according to UN refugee agency data.
By mid-June 2025, Greece had recorded 16,290 arrivals, over 14,600 of which were by sea.
With Greek authorities stepping up patrols along the eastern maritime border with Turkey, traffickers appear to be increasingly choosing the longer and more dangerous route across the Mediterranean from North Africa, using larger boats capable of carrying more people.
