As the Ministry reconsider the JMD on free initial legal counseling, we demand: Legal guidance must serve rights, not deterrence!
The Greek government is introducing a new framework for initial legal counseling provided to asylum seekers. A recent Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) assigns the task exclusively to a special registry of state-certified attorneys that is yet to be created. Registered lawyers will be entitled to a fee of 160 euros per counseling session, conducted individually or in groups of up to 15 applicants, or even up to 50 during mass arrivals or other exceptional circumstances. They will also receive a bonus of 250 euros if the asylum seeker chooses “voluntary” departure within 2 months after the counseling session upon the completion of the return.
Building upon the initial statement of the Coordinating Committee of the Plenary of the Presidents of the Greek Bar Associations (4 July 2026), we share the condemnation of the “voluntary return” financial bonus (Article 9(3)) and the Ministry’s surveillance of counselling sessions (Article 13(1)-(2)) as fundamentally incompatible with lawyers’ independence and legal professional privilege. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has likewise called for the withdrawal of Article 9(3), warning that it creates an incentive to influence the content of legal guidance and objectively undermines the independence and neutrality of the information provided.
The bonus paid to lawyers upon an applicant’s confirmed departure (Article 9(3)) is explicitly triggered for applicants pre-categorized as lacking a “strong refugee profile” based on nationality-linked recognition rates below 20% (Article 2(1)(d)), which structurally incentivizes lawyers to steer people on the move toward accepting return before any individualized assessment of their protection needs has taken place. The same provision compounds this pressure by requiring lawyers to warn these applicants of the severe criminal penalties for ‘illegal stay’ under Law 5226/2025 – a minimum two-year sentence, suspended only upon departure. Given that the alternative is imprisonment following rejection, consent obtained under these conditions amounts to coercion, rather than a “voluntary” decision, raising serious concerns under the non-refoulement principle.
The JMD repurposes legal counseling as an instrument of the state’s “prison or return” doctrine. The regulation explicitly excludes interview preparation, drafting of memos or documents, case-specific advice, and file access from the scope of the guidance session itself – and separately bars the same lawyer from later formally representing the applicant in the administrative or judicial examination of their claim. “Legal guidance” is structurally hollowed out of any substantive and individual content from the start. This inverts asylum lawyers’ role from independent advocates meant to safeguard the rights of people on the move against state violence into agents executing the EU’s and Greek state’s deterrence policies of criminalization and forced return.
The JMD is the latest in a series of authoritarian measures that have systematically narrowed, surveilled, and criminalized the space in which legal and humanitarian solidarity with people on the move can operate in Greece – most notably Law 5275/2026 (“Promotion of Legal Migration Policies”, 5 February 2026), which Human Rights Watch describes as a bill that “demonizes civil society”. The JMD should also be read alongside Minister Plevris’ announcement of “redefining” NGO’s role, ensuring they do not act as a “pull factor”.
Seen in this light, the JMD is part of a broader strategy that combines the repression of independent actors with the absorption of remaining professional space into state logics – criminalizing those who provide independent legal information while installing a state-controlled substitute designed to further obstruct effective legal support and serve the returns policy.
On 10 July 2026, the Coordinating Committee of the Plenary suspended its call for abstention, following the Minister’s public commitment to amend Articles 9(3) and 13(1)-(2) and a related circular issued by the Secretary General for Migration Policy on 9 July 2026. The Plenary has conditioned its continued participation on these provisions being properly amended before the process is completed, reserving the right to withdraw entirely if they are not.
We note that the underlying provisions remain unrepealed, and their amendment remains merely a commitment rather than a fact. We unequivocally condemn these provisions and call for their immediate repeal. The undersigning organizations recall that the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) has stressed the need to guarantee the full independence of lawyers in the field of migration and to prevent undue interference with their professional duties.
Legal guidance to people on the move must serve their rights, not the state’s deterrence policies. It must remain independent, confidential, and effective.
Signatories:
I Have Rights
Equal Legal Aid
Samos Volunteers
Avocats Sans Frontières France
Collective Aid
Human Rights Legal Project
Changemakers Lab
Community Peacemaker Teams – Aegean Migrant Solidarity
InterEuropean Human Aid Association
Mobile Info Team
ECHO100PLUS
EmpowerVan
Refugee Legal Support (RLS)
Centre for Gender Rights and Equality DIOTIMA
Center for legal aid – Voice in Bulgaria
Greek Forum of Migrants
Border Violence Monitoring Network
Legal Centre Lesvos
Symbiosis
