it has granted Greece access to over € 700 Million for migration management. The budget does not clarify what this money will be spent on. Still, the role of the EU in violence within Greece is more a question of subtle pressures and omission, rather than direct policies. When Greece adopted new legislation in 2019, which expanded asylum-related detention and rolled back safeguards for vulnerable groups, the EU remained silent. When reports emerged detailing dire conditions and rights violations in holding and pre-removal facilities, their response was equally hushed. This is despite the fact that the report’s observations breach the bloc’s own legal requirements that asylum applicants must have an “adequate standard of living which protects their physical and mental health”. As a result, there is little faith that the “independent monitoring” of compliance with human rights” promised in the EU’s 2020 Pact on Migration and Asylum is more than hot air. INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY The human cost of violence is high. On the 25th of September, a 23-year-old Moroccan man was sitting with two friends having dinner on the outskirts of Kavala, Greece. A police car arrived, dispersing the group, and the man was apprehended by three officers who proceeded to beat him in a savage flurry of kicks, fists and strikes with metal batons. He sustained a broken nose, swelling to the head, fractured shins on both legs, abrasions to the arms and his front tooth was knocked out. While the man was unconscious on the ground, the officers emptied the contents of his bag into a nearby river. It contained his phone, money, powerbank, jacket and a small quantity of food. Despite his injuries, the police drove away, 39 % of the cases might qualify as Hate Crimes due to referencing the affected person’s race, ethnicity, religion or country of origin during the violent incident Despite his injuries, the police drove away, leaving the man to walk three days to Thessaloniki in search of food and medical assistance.