Greek island sees unlawful crossings spike as Europe readies harder migration measures | EUROtoday

An Israeli-built Heron 2 drone whirs off the tarmac on a brand new surveillance mission.

The plane’s sensors scan for boats alongside the 350-kilometer (220-mile) stretch of sea between Libya and the Greek island of Crete and might detect exercise hidden under deck.

Crete, Greece’s largest island, noticed a threefold improve in irregular migration final yr, turning into the nation’s busiest level of entry with about 20,000 arrivals, whilst total irregular migration to Europe fell by 26% in 2025 in contrast with the earlier yr, in response to information from Frontex, the European Union’s border company.

One of Europe’s deadliest migration corridors, the place unclaimed our bodies usually wash up on shore, the passage to Crete is fueled by wars and instability throughout Africa and is rising busier whilst stress eases on different Mediterranean routes.

As the EU readies harder measures to fight unlawful migration, Frontex says it’ll focus sources on Crete in an try to finish the surge in arrivals.

Eastern Libya has turn into a key launch level for smugglers, undercutting years of EU efforts to curb departures and making Crete a brand new stress level.

Many boats leaving Libya are overcrowded and barely seaworthy, making an attempt a protracted, uncovered journey throughout the Libyan Sea, resulting in tragedies equivalent to a sunken fishing trawler that killed no less than 700 in 2023.

Greek authorities just lately rescued 20 migrants and recovered 4 our bodies from a vessel in misery south of Crete. Dozens of others are believed lacking.

Each rescue underscores the identical brutal actuality: The crossing is of venture with lives.

open picture in gallery

The path to Crete is considerably longer and extra perilous than the quick journey from Turkey to close by Greek islands. It requires bigger vessels able to navigating open sea for days and a distinct operational response from Frontex, together with larger patrol boats and expanded aerial surveillance.

Standing beside a drone at Tympaki airfield on Crete, Mariusz Kawczynski, a senior Frontex operations official, mentioned the know-how was indispensable.

“This asset is of critical importance,” he mentioned. “There is no substitute in modern technology to have eyes for Europe of the threats that are coming to our borders.”

Georgios Pyliaros, head of Frontex operations in Greece and Cyprus, mentioned the dangerous climate led to an anticipated seasonal lull in exercise in January and February, however the company expects elevated crossings within the spring.

“If we take into consideration what happened in the last two or three years, we will have some increase in the following months, for sure,” Pyliaros mentioned.

open picture in gallery

The surge in Crete final yr hardened political positions in Athens. Greece briefly suspended asylum claims from migrants arriving by way of the Libya route for 3 months, scrapped sure amnesty provisions and launched necessary imprisonment for asylum seekers whose claims are rejected.

The EU is also taking a harder line, with new bloc-wide migration guidelines beginning in June aimed toward stricter border screening and quicker deportations.

Frontex’s standing corps is about to achieve 10,000 officers by the top of the yr — double the quantity employed in 2021 — reflecting the coverage shift and expectations of sustained stress alongside key routes.

A war-tracking mission at Sweden’s Uppsala University recorded 61 lively conflicts globally in 2024 — the best quantity since World War II — together with increasing militant exercise in western Africa, a serious driver of displacement.

The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations company, estimates no less than 2,185 folks died or went lacking within the Mediterranean in 2025. The company mentioned 606 migrant deaths already had been recorded within the Mediterranean as of Feb. 24, warning that restricted entry to search-and-rescue data means the true toll is probably going larger.

“The continued loss of life on migration routes is a global failure we cannot accept as normal,” IOM Director General Amy Pope mentioned. “These deaths are not inevitable.”