Refugee crisis

As a growing influx of migrants from Turkey puts Greece under increasing pressure and amid the threat of a new wave of refugees, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he will broach the issue of burden-sharing among European Union member-states at a leaders summit in Brussels on Thursday.

U.N. refugee agency on Oct. 1 called on Greece to urgently move thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers out of "dangerously overcrowded" reception centers on Greek islands in the Aegean.      

Plans by the Citizens' Protection Ministry aimed at tackling a burgeoning new refugee crisis foresee the transfer of some 10,000 asylum seekers from overcrowded camps on the islands of the eastern Aegean to less cramped facilities on the mainland among other measures, Kathimerini understands.

The government is preparing a comprehensive plan to address all aspects of the migration and refugee crisis Alternate Citizen's Protection Minister for Migration George Koumoutsakos said after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Citizen's Protection Ministry.

There can be no doubt that we are confronted with a new refugee crisis.

That is the view of Greek authorities which are closely monitoring migrant flows toward the Greek islands from the Turkish coasts but also at the Evros boarder crossing.

There is nothing new about the administrative shortcomings observed in the way Greece has dealt with the migrant and refugee crisis.
The new conservative administration appears to be aware of the existing weaknesses. That said, even the most adequate national administration would be incapable of meeting the demands created by the increased flows seen in recent days.

The number of refugees in Turkey has reached 4.9 million, reported NOVA TV. 

Today we mark World Refugee Day. According to the UNHCR, to date, nearly 71 million people have left their homes because of military conflicts or persecution.

80% of them go to neighbouring countries.

Up to 2 million refugees could flee to Turkey if fighting intensifies in northwestern Syria as aid funds run dangerously low, the United Nations said on June 10.

Tackling the issues created by migration and responding to it in a humane manner have been central messages in the Pope's first public comments after arriving in Bulgaria on Sunday.