Greece sees migrant numbers plunge
Print Edition
THE number of migrants arriving in Greece plunged nearly 90 percent in April following a controversial EU-Turkey deal to stem their influx to Europe, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last month 3,360 migrants and refugees landed on the Greek islands, compared with 26,971 in March — an 88 percent drop, IOM data showed this week.
The remarkable shift in migration follows a deal reached in March under which Turkey has agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political incentives, including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.
The European Union border agency Frontex also reported on the slowdown yesterday, saying it had registered 2,700 arrivals in Greece last month and describing the development as “dramatic.”
“The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last year’s peak months,” Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement.
Greece has since last June seen far more arrivals than Italy, driven mainly by refugees fleeing conflicts in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but the balance has shifted since April 1, the United Nations refugee agency said.
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