How a remote Greek island ended up on the front line of Europe’s migration crisis
On the tiny Greek island of Gavdos, a tawny smudge on the blue horizon of the Mediterranean, there are just four children.
Three of those children belong to Efi Georgaka, who earns a living keeping bees, rearing sheep, pigs and goats, and working in the ferry ticket office in the island’s minuscule harbour.
It is a carefree existence of almost year-round sunshine, empty roads and long, sandy beaches. Until now, that is.
Gavdos, which is the southernmost point of Europe, has found itself thrust to the forefront of the migration crisis, emerging as the latest target for people-smuggling gangs.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,000 migrants have arrived by boat, many of them setting out from Tobruk on the coast of Libya.
The numbers may be modest but the impact on such a small island is huge. Last week, 91 migrants arrived in one day, easily outnumbering the islanders.
“If things keep going like this then the island will change, I know it,” said Ms Georgaka, who has lived on the island for 16 years.
“There will be a need for police and coastguard officers and the navy, like on other Greek islands. We don’t want them here. We treasure the freedom and tranquillity that we have. Everybody knows everybody.”
One of Greece’s remotest scraps of land, Gavdos has no facilities or personnel to deal with the small boat arrivals, aside from two council employees and a single police officer.
Lefteris Lougiakis, the deputy mayor of the island, has requested help from the government in Athens. Extra food and blankets have arrived, but not much else. He fears the situation is going to get much worse.
“I think there will be many more boats this summer. It’s easy for the migrants to come here – there’s no Frontex [the EU border agency], no navy or coastguard to stop them. People on the island are worried that we are going to be like Lampedusa – that we are going to be overrun with migrants.”
The route is longer and more dangerous than the crossing from Tunisia to the Italian island of Lampedusa, but that has not stopped smugglers from promoting it as the latest way to get into Europe by the back door. There is good money to be made: each migrant pays up to $5,000 for the crossing.
In a sign of European alarm over the prospect of mass migration from Egypt, EU leaders on Sunday pledged a €7.4 billion funding package to Cairo.
The deal, which is aimed at cutting migrant flows as well as encouraging economic development, was announced in the Egyptian capital by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission, and the prime ministers of Greece, Italy, Austria and Belgium, as well as the president of Cyprus. Out of the total sum promised, €200 million is for managing migration.
“We must prevent the opening of new migration routes and we will work very closely with Egypt to ensure that this will be achieved,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister.
Gavdos has emerged as a new migrant destination because of pressures elsewhere, principally a crackdown on migrant boats by the Greek coastguard and Frontex in the Aegean.
The hardline policies pursued in Italy by Giorgia Meloni, who has staked much political capital on stopping the boats coming from North Africa, may also be a factor.
Ms Meloni’s government hopes that its plans to divert migrants picked up in the Mediterranean to camps in Albania will act as a strong deterrent.
Migration route is well-organised operation
The inhabitants of Gavdos, which covers barely 11 square miles, fear their unique way of life is under threat.
There are only about 70 of them, and arriving on the island by ferry from the southern coast of Crete feels like stepping back in time to a Greece that is light years away from the bling and hedonism of Mykonos or the selfie-snapping over-tourism of Santorini.
The “capital”’ of the island is the village of Kastri, a cluster of about a dozen houses on a ridge. The other main settlement, Sarakiniko, consists of a few jerry-built cottages and tavernas hidden among sand dunes and facing a huge sweep of beach. There is no taxi on the island and renting a car or moped, in the winter months at least, is impossible.
Even though the migration route is relatively new, it is a well-organised operation.
The majority of migrants are Egyptian men and teenage boys, although there has been a smattering of other nationalities, including Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Syrians and Sudanese.
They invariably land on Tripiti beach, an undeveloped bay at the southern end of the island which boasts turquoise shallows reminiscent of the South Pacific.
From there they have to trek up a stony path for about three miles to the tiny coastal settlement of Korfos, which consists of a shuttered taverna and a couple of houses.
The trail, which winds through stunted pine forest, is littered with abandoned clothing, half-eaten packets of biscuits, water bottles and juice boxes bearing Arabic writing. There are clear signs of where the migrants have rested for shade beneath ancient junipers and twisted fir trees.
From Korkos, they are taken to the island’s port and transported to Crete or the Greek mainland.
“Some of them told me they were kept in prison-like conditions in Libya before making the crossing,” said Vasilis Amvrosiadis, the island’s sole doctor, who has treated the arrivals. “When they arrive, almost all of them have dermatological problems like scabies.
“They come over in small boats. The locals are surprised because they consider boats like that totally unsuitable to such a long crossing.
“The boats all arrive at Tripiti beach. It’s become a routine, they know exactly where to go. But there is no capacity on the island to receive these large numbers. I call Gavdos the Spitzbergen of southern Europe. It’s remote and difficult to supply.”
There is acute concern among islanders that the influx of migrants could damage tourism, with the season due to start at Easter. That coincides with warmer weather and calmer seas, which is also likely to encourage more migrant crossings from Libya.
‘If tourists hear about this, they will be scared to come’
“If we miss out on the summer season, we’ll all go crazy,” said Stella Stefanaki in the little bakery she runs in the island’s interior. Sliding a tray of cheese and spinach pies into the oven, she is not convinced that the financing deal announced in Cairo at the weekend will solve the crisis.
“Europe just gave Egypt millions to stop the boats but what happens when the money runs out? The boats will start coming again. I heard there are 20,000 Egyptians waiting to make the crossing. How can we cope with that?” she added.
“People are worried, they want to find a solution fast,” said Yorgos Louyiakis, who runs a taverna called The Four Brothers that looks out over a broad sandy beach and indigo sea to the snow-capped mountains of Crete to the north.
“It’s affecting people’s sense of security and their businesses. If tourists hear about the migrants, they will be scared to come to Gavdos. Everyone here is worried about the summer tourist season.”
