Speaking to ERTNews about the situation in Crete and the government’s actions to ease the pressure on the island, Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Sevi Voloudaki stressed that the immediate priority is the relocation of new arrivals to facilities on the mainland.

Since Monday, about 200 people per day have already been transferred—136 from Chania, 166 from Heraklion, and 116 from Rethymno—while planning continues, with the goal of moving another 350 people from Crete by the weekend. “The decongestion of Crete begins with specific transfers that are already taking place,” she said.

She added that, at the national level, migration flows have decreased by 30% compared to last year, while in the Eastern Aegean islands the reduction reaches around 40%, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the government’s strategy.

Referring to the work of the Coast Guard, she underlined that “its men and women are on the front line every day, facing wartime conditions in the Aegean in order to protect maritime borders and save human lives.”

The Deputy Minister also noted that “when there are geopolitical developments and open energy issues, such as the Chevron case and the illegal Turkey-Libya memorandum, smugglers rush to exploit them, intensifying the pressures.”

Finally, Voloudaki emphasized that “migration is a dynamic phenomenon, which is why the Ministry continually reprograms and revises its strategy according to real conditions, so that we can provide realistic and practical solutions.”