Immediate drastic reduction of refugee hosting space on the Aegean Islands and measures for decongesting the islands

The Greek authorities — in cooperation with the Commission, relevant agencies and stakeholders — are focusing on several measures in order to relieve the pressure and ensure security in the overcrowded hotspots on the Aegean islands. These measures are laid out in the Joint Action Plan(1) agreed between the Commission and Greece, and aim most notably (1) to accelerate the asylum process; (2) to improve coordination, management, safety and security in the islands; (3) to increase the rate of returns of inadmissible migrants including through better incentivised assisted voluntary returns; (4) to create proper shelters including closed facilities on the islands and improve their infrastructure; and (5) to transfer migrants referred to the regular asylum process including vulnerable groups to specific facilities on the mainland.

Moreover, in the hotspots, some specific prevention measures are also implemented such as the provision of information to migrants, the increased deployment of police forces and the adoption of emergency guidelines for every hotspot.

(1) Joint Action Plan of the EU Coordinator on the Implementation of certain provisions of the EU-Turkey Statement, COM(2016) 792 final, Annex 1, Brussels, 8 December 2016.