Dimitris Avramopoulos

European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos on Wednesday expressed concern about conditions in which hundreds of migrants are living on Aegean islands but also praised the Moria center on Lesvos as "a model settlement," adding that plans to reduce crowding at Greek facilities would improve quality of life and ease tensions.

Europe's top official for migration on Wednesday deplored the plight of thousands of refugees and other migrants in camps on Greece's eastern Aegean island of Lesvos who face harsh winter conditions.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Union's commissioner for migration, said solutions must be found immediately.

The Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Immigration Minister Giannis Mouzalas are visiting together the Moria and Kara Tepe hot-spots in Lesvos.

Responding to rising tensions on eastern Aegean islands due to the growing population of migrants and asylum seekers, Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas has made a request to European authorities that individuals from countries with low asylum recognition rates be temporarily transferred to pre-removal centers on mainland Greece.

The EU has recommended that member states return asylum seekers to Greece as of March next year, despite the poor conditions and overcrowding of its refugee facilities.

The European Commission on Thursday recommended the gradual resumption of the Dublin regulations, which state that migrants must seek asylum in the European Union member-state they first arrived in.

European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos on Friday stressed the importance of keeping alive an agreement between Ankara and the European Union to crack down on human smuggling in the Aegean after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to unleash a wave of migrants on Europe.

The European Commission on Wednesday called for the introduction of prior security checks for visa-free travellers entering the EU's passport-free Schengen zone in order to prevent potential terrorist threats.

If the proposal is approved, citizens of Balkan countries that do not need visas to travel to Western Europe will have to undergo online security checks.

A total of 6,000 individuals have been relocated from Greece and Italy to other countries of the European Union in recent months, the bloc's Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos has said.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Eurobank on Monday signed two guarantee agreements totaling 230 million euros to enhance access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in Greece.

These agreements benefit from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe.