Numbers going up at migrant camps
The population of asylum-seekers who remain in specially built structures on the islands is reportedly constantly rising in tandem with the daily interception of migrant trafficking boats by the Greek Coast Guard.
Several landings have been recorded on Rhodes, Crete and elsewhere, with arrivals transferred either to the islands that have reception and identification centers like Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, or directly to hospitality structures in mainland Greece.
In response to the upward trend, the regional governor of Crete, Stavros Arnaoutakis, has told Kathimerini that he is in talks with the Migration and Asylum Ministry for the creation of a small reception center on the island where arrivals can stay for 48 hours, “until they are moved in an organized manner,” so as to avert problems in the areas where most arrivals take place.
Germany’s decision to close its land borders may soon create suffocating conditions as the accommodation facilities on the islands and, gradually, on the mainland, reach full capacity.
Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos has stated that there is no question of mass returns of asylum-seekers from Germany to Greece despite the fact that such a thing is foreseen by the European agreement. He stressed that “unrecognized persons are provided for under Dublin III to return, as it is also provided for by the European directives that those who obtain travel documents and have 90 days to travel within Schengen.”
He noted, however, that this does not apply in practice because these people cannot be traced. But if those who arrive in Greece remain, as has happened in the past, soon the population of recognized refugees will increase tremendously.
According to Frontex data, 37,163 people crossed into Greece from Turkey from January until the end of August, while migrant flows from the Eastern Mediterranean routes increased by 39% in the first half of the year compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
