Leros

Some 2,075 migrants and refugees arrived on the Greek islands in January, according to the latest data by the Hellenic Coast Guard.

In the same month, two traffickers were arrested and seven vessels were confiscated.

The arrivals figure for January was lower than the 3,183 recorded in December but higher than the 1,560 that arrived in January 2018.

As authorities seek to reduce the pressure on migrant reception centers on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros by transferring hundreds of people to the mainland, there are plans to open another two centers in central and northern Greece. 

The discount in value-added tax (VAT) on five eastern Aegean islands must not be linked to the number of refugees and migrants they host, their mayors said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The favorable value-added tax status of five eastern Aegean islands could be extended beyond June 30 if the European Commission establishes that the number of migrants and refugees who have landed on their shores exceed the capacity of their respective reception centers.

The privileged value-added tax status of the five Aegean islands that have borne the brunt of the refugee crisis since 2015 - Lesvos, Chios, Samos (pictured), Leros and Kos - has been extended for another six months, according to a legislative act published on Monday in the Government's Gazette and a ministerial decision signed by Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on the same day.

Despite the bad weather, dozens of undocumented migrants made the short but perilous crossing to the Aegean islands from Turkey in the last few days of the year.

The National Council for Foreign Affairs (ESEP) will hold a meeting Friday at 11 a.m. to discuss latest developments in Greek-Turkish relations and the Cyprus problem.

The meeting will be chaired by Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos.

The meeting will take place amid a spike in tension in Greek-Turkish ties.

Reacting to a barrage of incursions by Turkish fighter jets on Thursday, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos warned Ankara against violating Greece's territorial integrity.

"If they make the slightest move, we will crush them," Kammenos said during a visit to a military outpost on Leros, a small island on the southeast Aegean.

Twenty human rights organizations - including Amnesty International, Oxfam, the Greek Council for Refugees, Oxfam and the local branch of Medecins Du Monde - have urged the Greek government and its European Union partners to ensure that all asylum seekers stranded on the Aegean islands are moved to suitable accommodation on the mainland or relocated to other EU countries as winter approaches.

Greek authorities said Thursday that about 74,000 asylum-seekers are now living in the country, and efforts are under way to expand housing for them and improve conditions at island camps for migrants who arrive by sea, according to VOA News.