The migratory flow in Greece is changing. Joint Operation (JO) Poseidon Sea seems to offer the first results in limiting the crossing into Greece of illegal migrants, states Frontex Situational update.

The numbers of migrants crossing the Greek-Turkish land border dropped from over 2000 a week in the first week of August to little over 200 by the end of the month. This is the direct effect of increased surveillance and patrolling activities by the Greek authorities, which included the deployment of 1800 officers along the Evros river at the beginning of August.

In September, detections dropped even further from around 70 a week at the beginning of the month to below 30 in the second half. As crossing the border in the Evros region has become more difficult, the number of nationalities attempting to cross has also dropped; from over 60 to fewer than ten, with the majority of migrants now coming from Iraq, Syria and Eritrea.

As a reaction, some displacement effect has already taken place along the South Eastern border, with increasing numbers of migrants arriving mainly in the Greek Aegean Islands of Samos, Symi, Lesvos and Farmaconisi. At the sea border with Turkey, weekly detection rates grew from around six in July to approximately 180 in August and September.

In October, as response to the growing migratory pressure in the Eastern Aegean, Frontex has strengthen Joint Operation (JO) Poseidon Sea with additional air and maritime surveillance assets.

At the land border between Turkey and Bulgaria the numbers of illegal border crossing have also risen since August and vary between 40 and 70 a week. Frontex JO Poseidon Land at this border is an ongoing operation and supports the Bulgarian authorities with the screening and debriefing of irregular migrants.

The number of Syrians arriving in an irregular way in Europe via Turkey has also been growing steadily since the beginning of the year. The increase has been dramatic in July when up to 800 Syrians were crossing the Greek-Turkish land border every week. Currently Syrians still constitute a significant percentage of all migrants arriving in Greece. For example since 1 August out of over 1300 migrants who arrived in the Aegean islands nearly 30% were Syrian nationals.

Although increasing numbers of illegal border crossing are detected at the sea border and in Bulgaria, the total number of migrants is still quite low in comparison with numbers detected in the Evros region before additional resources were deployed there. Since the beginning of the year, over 30 000 migrants have been detected in the Evros region alone.

It is believed that a significant number of persons are still awaiting passage in Turkey.

The first report covers the period from 1st November 2011 to 30th April 2012 and assesses in particular the situation at the external Schengen borders and within the Schengen area.

The pressure at the Schengen external borders is focused on a limited number of hot spots, in particular the Eastern Mediterranean route via Turkey to Greece. In the last three months of 2011, nearly 30,000 irregular border crossings were detected at the external borders and about 75 percent of these were on the Eastern Mediterranean route.

Following the serious shortcomings identified in Greece, the Commission considers that the efforts, especially as regards the control of the external land and sea borders, need to remain a priority. The EU therefore needs to continue supporting the country’s effort to manage its external borders, in particular through assisting Greece to make more efficient use of the relevant EU funds for migration management.

“Schengen is one of the most valued achievements of European integration. It is widely cherished by EU’s citizens and makes a major contribution to our economic prosperity. Everyone needs to do their part to preserve Schengen. This starts with a regular, healthy debate in the European Parliament and the Council for which today’s report provides a good basis”, said yesterday Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.