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EU countries should be allowed to suspend asylum claims while dealing with waves of migrants trying to storm the bloc, Greece’s Prime Minister said today.

In a move which risks stoking growing EU divisions over immigration, Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for new emergency measures under which countries could ‘temporarily suspend asylum applications for newly arrived’ migrants.

He said it should apply when waves of people try to breach the bloc’s external borders, such as last week’s storming of Spanish enclave Ceuta.

In a bid to deter repeat scenes and avoid another migration crisis like the one which engulfed the bloc in 2015, he added that the measure should be deployed while also ‘proceeding with the swift return of those not entitled to remain’.

The proposal is likely to be controversial in Brussels and among some EU nations as it could be seen as a breach of international law.

It mimics measures which the last UK Tory government tried to bring in to tackle small boat Channel crossings, only for it to be ditched by Labour.

The last Conservative government passed the Illegal Migration Act 2023, under former PM Rishi Sunak, in a bid to suspend the right to claim asylum for anyone arriving by small boat.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for new emergency measures under which countries could ‘temporarily suspend asylum applications for newly arrived’ migrants

On Thursday, 60,000 migrants stormed the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after swimming from Morocco, taking advantage of weak security

By Friday night, some 48,000 of those who crossed the frontier into Ceuta, which neighbours Morocco in north Africa but is part of Spain and EU soil, were reported to have been returned

However, Labour ditched the proposals after winning the 2024 election amid concerns from human rights groups that it breached the Refugee Convention.

At a summit of Brussels ambassadors from the 27 member nations yesterday, Spain’s envoy was said to have been ‘bitter’ towards other countries.

According to one diplomat, Spain used the emergency gathering to hit back at other countries after they criticised Madrid for failing to protect the EU's external border.

But other countries’ ambassadors rounded on Spain, demanding to know 'lessons learned to prevent a repeat' of the Ceuta fiasco.

In an unusual move, they also demanded that Madrid verify the numbers of migrants returned to Morocco – which borders the enclave – and the tally of those allowed to remain in Ceuta.

Another summit of home affairs and justice ministers will take place later today, when tensions could further boil over.

On Thursday, 60,000 migrants stormed the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after swimming from Morocco, taking advantage of weak security.

At least 57 people died, either by drowning or being crushed at the border fence.

By Friday night, some 48,000 of those who crossed the frontier into Ceuta, which neighbours Morocco in North Africa but is part of Spain and EU soil, were reported to have been returned.

The last Conservative government passed the Illegal Migration Act 2023, under former PM Rishi Sunak, in a bid to suspend the right to claim asylum for anyone arriving by small boat

By Friday night, some 48,000 of those who crossed the frontier into Ceuta, which neighbours Morocco in north Africa but is part of Spain and EU soil, were reported to have been returned

The rush on the border triggered European leaders to call for Spain's temporary suspension from the bloc's Schengen free-travel zone, sparking a furious response from Madrid.

In his opinion piece for the Politico website, Mr Mitsotakis also suggests that hostile states could be engineering migration crises to sow division among Western nations and use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions during negotiations.

He adds: ‘Alongside conventional military threats and cyberattacks, the EU is increasingly confronted with a more insidious form of hybrid pressure: the deliberate instrumentalization of migration by state and nonstate actors seeking to test Europe’s resilience, undermine its cohesion and extract political concessions.’

‘Recent events at Europe’s borders, most notably in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, are the latest reminder that migration is no longer just a humanitarian issue or management challenge.

‘In some cases, it has become a tool of geopolitical coercion.’

Officials in Ceuta blamed Morocco last week, saying the north African country ‘at least encouraged or permitted’ the storming of the enclave.