Greek officials face a tough-to-handle situation as migrant arrivals double since last autumn. Nikos Panagiotopoulos‚ the Migration Minister points out that island facilities cant handle more people; while mainland spots are running at 60% of their limit
The government has a clear-cut plan: build new holding-centers on Rhodes and Crete (two of the countrys most-visited islands). The numbers tell the story — about 50‚000 new-comers expected to arrive by December 2024
Most people come from the Turkish shore and North-African routes. “We see some movement from Lebanon but its not as big as we might think considering the Middle-East situation‚“ Panagiotopoulos said on Action 24 TV; the flow could change based on regional events
The Greek stance on EU rules is straight-forward: they want them tougher but dont plan to break away from current talks. The new EU migration deal — which took almost a decade to negotiate — will kick-in around mid-2026. Greek leaders push for two main things:
- stronger rules for sending people back
- better control of outer EU borders
Panagiotopoulos‚ who used to run defense matters says: “We need European answers that fit into the Migration and Asylum Pact framework — the EU spent 8 years working on it and now we must start using it“