arrests only at the Greek-Turkish sea and land borders each year also shows that 2016, with the exception of the first quarter, did not deviate from other years, with the exception of 2013.10 Since the Hellenic Police does not issue arrest statistics per month, but only until April 2016, during this month, arrests in the North and South Aegean regions were 3267 and 309, respectively.11 In total, from the 201,176 arrests up to November 2016, the 159,292 were made during the first quarter.12 The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) recorded 22,998 new entries (“arrivals”) in Greece for the period from April to December 2016.13 Respectively, the data from the FRONTEX statistics demonstrate that already in the second quarter of 2016, when the flows were decreasing, there were 8,818 illegal crossings on the Eastern Mediterranean route in total (land and sea borders), 7,086 of which were at the sea borders.14 In the third quarter there is a further reduction, as we indirectly deduce,15 since the figures have not been published yet. In 2012, to give a comparison of the flows at the borders, the Hellenic Police and the Port Authorities had arrested on the Greek-Turkish land borders 30,498 individuals and 3,596 in the islands in the proximity of Turkey, a total of approximately 34 thousand persons.16 All the above mean that flows into Greece, and subsequently arrests during the last nine months of 2016, are among the lowest for the country over the past ten years. In fact, since arrests on the mainland are low, these nine months may be viewed as reflecting exceptional low numbers of irregular residents in Greece. The flows alone clearly do not justify any special or exceptional committhe crisis: 2006=95,239, 2007=112,364, 2008=146,337, 2009=126,145, 2010=132,524. The elimination of the Schengen visa requirement for Albanian citizens (free entry and stay for three to six months a year) and the financial crisis caused a drop over the next years: 2011=99,368, 2012=76,878, 2013=43,002. There is a new increase in 2014, reaching 77,163 arrests (see statistics in: http://www.astynomia.gr/images/stories//2014/statistics14/ allod2014/statistics_all_2014_all&dia_apo2006.JPG). 10 Arrests on the Greek-Turkish borders: 2007=33,570, 2008=44,610, 2009=36,472, 2010=53,292, 2011=30,433, 2012=54,974, 2013=12,556, 2014=45,421. (see Hellenic Police website with statistics for the corresponding years). 11 See Hellenic Police website. The nation-wide total during April was 5,874 arrests. 12 Ibid. 13 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/55341, 14 http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Attachments_News/FRAN_2016_Q2.pdf 15 http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/WB_Q3_2016. pdf http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/FRAN_2016_ Q2.pdf, p. 6. 16 See Hellenic Police website. ment of human resources and funds. 3. A  s regards the significant shortcomings in the registration procedure, which lasted approximately nine months after the increase of the flows in the spring of 2015, several explanations have been put forward, which usually focus on the sudden and huge volume of the incoming population, the EU’s tardiness in responding to the migration/refugee stream by contributing funds, know-how and human resources, as well as the inertia and shortcomings of the machinery of state and/or government. From all information and data we have available, it is rather risky to assign greater importance to only one of these reasons; however, the concurrence of all these factors must be considered a fact. The results of the incorrect registrations of the past today are limited mostly to the verbal accusations brought against the country by the authorities of other European states, in particular of the EU, regarding the incorrect recording, or non-registration of persons residing in their territory who initially entered EU territory from Greece. 4. T here was one at least significant decision of non-registration by the Greek authorities, and pertained to thirdcountry nationals illegally leaving the country from the informal, albeit accepted, Eidomeni corridor. The Greek state decided not to record any of these departures. For a number of months, the Greek state ignored the population that was residing, even temporarily, on its territory, both from the aspect of numbers, and the aspect of their identity. It is telling that any knowledge we have on the numbers of individuals leaving from Eidomeni come from data given by FYROM’s UNHCR to Greece’s UNHCR, which pertained only to the numbers of people recorded every day, without their names and details, at least as they appeared on the registration documents of the Greek authorities which were in the possession of the departing persons. 5. T he problem, as mentioned above, has not been significant for a number of months from the aspect of inflows. Despite the fact that the data show a growing flow towards the islands of persons who due to their country of origin do not at first sight have a refugee profile, as a total the population illegally residing in Greece, or under an asylum seeker status, waiting for relocation to an EU country or family reunification, is clearly smaller than what it was a few years ago. The approximate 60 to 65 17