Refugees and Migration

The meeting, which started with a visit to the Elaionas refugee camp near the centre of Athens, to be followed by a discussion in Athens and then by a visit to the island of Mytilini, a key entry point for refugees and migrants in the Aegean, took place shortly before the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016. There were continuous discussions and exchanges of view throughout the two day event and numerous issues were raised by participants, with the main focus being the management of the refugee/migration flows across the Aegean. The visit to the Eleonas camp, arguably the best organized refugee camp in Athens, was well received by participants as we had the opportunity to be briefed by camp officials but also to visit the various facilities and to meet briefly with some of the refugees hosted there. We then had a discussion, followed by dinner, where the considerable divergence between the views of various participants –to a significant degree defined by their country of origin- was more than obvious.