EU nations move to resume returning migrants to Greece

European Union countries have begun the process of sending migrants who arrived over the last five months via Greece back there to have their asylum applications assessed, resuming a practice that was suspended as Greece struggled to cope with a massive refugee influx.

EU rules oblige migrants to apply for asylum in the country they first entered. But the requirement was put on hold as hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Syrian refugees, reached Greece on boats from Turkey in 2015.

The EU’s executive arm recommended in December that member countries gradually resume sending unauthorized migrants who arrived after March 15 back to Greece, which often is the first point of entry to the 28-nation EU. Some countries have requested permission from Greece to return such people, but none have been transferred since mid-March, Greek officials say.

“Greece has to give assurances that they have adequate reception conditions,” European Commission spokeswoman Tove Ernst said Tuesday, adding that the country’s services for migrants, overwhelmed a year ago, had improved to the point that the commission felt comfortable making its non-binding recommendation for transfers to resume.

Greece’s asylum service says it has received requests to accept more than 400 returned migrants. Seven people, most of them Syrian nationals, have been accepted so far.