The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece has fallen sharply in the week since the EU agreed a deal with Ankara to return new arrivals to Turkey, says a report in the Financial Times.
The British paper says however, that Greek officials and international aid agencies cautioned it was too early to be certain the EU-Turkey deal was responsible for the sudden drop in activity by people smugglers operating between Turkey and the Aegean Islands.
Between March 20 — the day the deal went into effect — and March 26, daily arrivals fell from 930 to 78. On Sunday there were 73 arrivals, according to official figures published by the Greek government.
“There’s been a big decrease in numbers which is good, but it’s too soon to draw conclusions,” said a spokesman for the government’s migration policy co-ordination unit.
“We’ve seen the numbers decline on previous occasions then spike again. This latest fall could be the effect of bad weather last week in the Aegean.”
Daily arrivals in the first three weeks of March on the half-dozen Aegean Islands regularly targeted by smugglers swung between 250 and 3,300, he added.
Officials in Lesvos, which received more than three-quarters of last week’s migrant traffic, were also sceptical that the lower migrant flows would continue.
“It’s too early, a week’s not enough to reveal a trend,” said Panos Navrozidis, country director for the US-based International Rescue Committee.
Source: Financial Times
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