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Migration to Greece Drops Dramatically, but EU Seeks Greater Refugee
Coronavirus Protection

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS, GREECE - Illegal migration flows to Greece have dropped to
   their lowest point since the start of the year, counting upwards of 100
   cases this week, after the governments in Athens and Ankara lock down
   their countries to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
   The dramatic decrease offers some respite for Greece, which has been
   struggling to fend off thousands of asylum seekers from streaming into
   the country after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in
   late February he no longer would block their access to Europe.
   Faced with a burgeoning health crisis, the Turkish leader rescinded his
   orders last week. By that time, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu
   explained Thursday, some 150,600 migrants and refugees had managed to
   enter Greece -- the biggest migrant push to the West since more than 1
   million, mainly Syrian refugees, fled to Europe to escape their
   country's civil war in 2016.
   Athens refutes the figures, and United Nations' data show the total
   number of migrant entries to Greece totaling 9,486 since the start of
   the year. Just 105 were recorded in the last week, 10 times less than
   the 1,288 documented in early March, according to the U.N.'s refugee
   agency.
   Coast guard and migration officials are calling the swoon "dramatic,"
   saying it is among the largest drop-offs since the EU and Turkey
   stitched together a landmark deal to limit the 2016 refugee crisis.

   "We're seeing zip, zilch, zero rubber rafts for days now," said a
   senior coast guard official on Lesbos, an island on the forefront of
   Europe's lingering migration crisis. "Even so," the official said on
   the condition of anonymity, "we remain vigilant."

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