THE GREEK CONTEXT

The EU formalised the "hotspot approach" on May 15, 2015 and with the signature in March 2016 of the so-called EU-Turkey deal. Five hotspots were established on the islands of Samos, Lesbos, Chios, Kos and Leros, in line with the “externalisation” approach of the European migration policy.  

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With the hotspots, the EU sets up a control mechanism at the gates of Europe by adding an additional step to the right to asylum. It establishes an admissibility examination which does not deal with the substance of the application but whose sole purpose is to ensure that the person is in a position to receive effective protection from Turkey. Through this aspect, the EU is developing the subcontracting of its migration policy as well as its wish to make effective protection as close as possible to the regions of origin. 

Six years later, in March 2021, six months after the burning of the Moria camp, the EU announced that it would allocate a budget of 276 million euros to the construction of new camps in order to put an end to the inhumane living conditions in the camps of Vathy and Moria. On 18 September 2021, the first of five "Multi-Purpose Reception and Identification Centres" opened on the island of Samos. These centres are far from a satisfactory solution. Far from the city centres, equipped with surveillance technology and surrounded by double fences, these new camps look like prisons.