FORGOTTEN Administratively detained irregular migrants and asylum seekers II. OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD AND PROSPECTS The project implementation period (September 2015September 2016) has been marked by significant and dense developments and reversals. Even before the project implementation in early 2015, the change of government after the January elections brought a significant reduction in the number of detainees. While previously, there were 7.000 or more detainees, this number fell to a few hundred, most of whom were detained on public order grounds. Moreover, in the spring of the same year, the massive influx of a population consisting primarily of refugees and secondarily of migrants from Turkey to Greece begun and the so-called Balkan route, through which people entering Greece continued their journey to central Europe, opened. In this national and international context, the Greek authorities reasonably focused on– but also have been squandered by– the enormous task of registration and management of the incoming population. Thus, the number of the administrative detainees remained low. However, we should note that the situation of the detention system in terms of facilities and provision of essential services to detainees was rapidly deteriorating, due to the financing gap from European Funds2. As a result, our country has not been able to provide decent detention conditions not even to this low number of detainees. The continuous protests of detainees about the food provided are indicative in this respect. The start of our project coincided with the peak of the refugee and migrant influx n Greece and their mass movement to central Europe. However, as we were heading towards the end of the year, the situation began to change with regard to the limitation of movement of the refugee and immigrant population. Many European countries began to erect fences at their borders, while pressure was exerted on our country to control its northern borders. Gradually, the nationalities of those allowed to cross the northern borders of the country and continue their journey, were narrowed down. On this basis, the Greek authorities had to address the issue of management 2 The financing gap was partly due to the structural change of European Funds, but mainly due to the state’s administration stiffness. We stress that the financing gap has not been addressed yet! 10