Greece has announced that new hotspots for asylum seekers on the islands of Lesbos and Chios are set to open in February and April of next year. Greek authorities are also expanding a hotspot near the Evros river on Greece's land border with Turkey.
Pantelleria's deputy mayor says the Sicilian island doesn't have a "structured center like Lampedusa" to host migrants. "The numbers are certainly different, but the emergency is the same."
Despite a number of transfers of migrants to other Italian towns, the Lampedusa hotspot in Sicily remains at risk of collapsing due to the continued inflow of new arrivals. Meanwhile the Agrigento public prosecutor has opened a file to collect information on the hotspot management which has been in the eye of the storm for many years with numerous investigations.
Italian immigration offices were left without lingusitic mediators to assist migrants, due to the expiry of some working agreements. The Interior Ministry has promised the problem would be solved and contracts renewed.
Italian authorities began moving migrants from the overcrowded Lampedusa hotspot over the weekend. By the end of last week, more than 1,800 migrants were present at the camp designed for 350.
In the closed center for asylum seekers on Samos island, asylum seekers are kept under guard and behind barbed wire. Before the facility opened nine months ago they lived among rats and snakes, but they had freedom.
More than 500 migrants arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa at the weekend. A nurse from the medical charity MSF said many were injured and some had scars from torture.
The asylum 'hotspot' system established under the EU-Turkey deal five years ago has failed, according to a German think tank. In a new report, it warns that the EU must not repeat the mistakes of the Greek islands.
An association working on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, promoting solidarity between migrants and the local community, has denounced conditions in the migrant hotspot there. The association says that the hotspot has "inadequate hygiene and sanitary conditions," and lacks "the necessities to guarantee the basic well-being of people."
A new building will open at the migrant hotspot on the Italian island of Lampedusa next week, following renovations. Now the center will provide room for 328 migrants instead of just 192.
A fire broke outside the Vathy refugee and migrant camp the Greek island of Samos in the early hours of Monday. About 15 tents were reported to have burned down. However, no one was injured, according to information by the migration ministry.
The situation on the Greek island of Lesbos is tense, as migrants and refugees remain stranded. Athens is now trying to pour oil on troubled waters, but things have long since gotten out of control.