Notis Mitarachi

Construction of closed pre-departure migrant centers on Greece's eastern Aegean islands will begin in March, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Monday, adding that the new facilities are expected to operate by summer.

As tensions at migrant camps on the Aegean islands simmer amid continuing arrivals, the government is looking at ways of accelerating the return of those whose asylum applications are rejected.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis suggested on Monday that the clashes that broke out between police and refugees near a migrant camp in Lesvos may have been incited by unnamed individuals.

The Greek government plans to build 20 new refugee and migrant centers with a capacity of between 500 and 2000 people each, Real news reports.

These centers are intended to function in a different way than previously known. They will house asylum seekers and fall under the so-called "controlled" sites.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi has announced plans to introduce "weekly return routes" of migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected.

In an interview with Kathimerini, he said that the speeding up of asylum procedures in conjunction with the weekly returns, will help decongest overcrowded islands.

Following criticism by Amnesty International and other human rights groups, the government on Friday continued to defend its plan for a floating barrier in the Aegean to curb an increased influx of migrants from Turkey as the European Commission and Germany appeared to distance themselves from the scheme.

Mayors of three Greek islands bearing the brunt of intensely overcrowded refugee and migrant camps demanded the transfer of thousands to the country's mainland during a meeting with the new migration minister in Athens on Thursday.

A meeting between Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis and officials from the three Greek Aegean islands hosting the largest number of refugees and migrants concluded with an initiative to hold regular meetings to examine developments on the islands and inform them on the government's plans.

Following a day of protests on Lesvos, Chios and Samos against the mounting pressure of irregular migration on the islands, the regional governor for the Northern Aegean, Kostas Moutzouris, and the mayors of the three islands are due in Athens on Thursday to deliver a petition to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calling for a swift resolution to the problem. 

Seventeen humanitarian organizations on Tuesday sent a joint letter to Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis expressing their concern over the fact that thousands of asylum seekers and their children have no access to public health care.