According to the submission, poor or inhuman and degrading conditions and/or uninhabitable housing units, no functioning sanitary facilities and insufficient availability of electricity, hot water, heating or cooling, as well as concerns with regards to hygiene and the safety of vulnerable groups have been reported since the beginning of the operation of the CCACs and up to the writing of this report.238 Hotspot transformation following the EU-Türkiye statement In March 2016, the adoption of the highly controversial EU-Türkiye Statement, committing ‘to end the irregular migration from Türkiye to the EU’, 239 brought a transformation of the so-called hotspots on the Aegean islands.240 With the launch of the EU-Türkiye Statement, hotspot facilities turned into closed detention centres. People arriving after 20 March 2016 through the Aegean islands, and thus subject to the EU-Türkiye Statement, were automatically de facto detained within the premises of the hotspots in order to be readmitted to Türkiye in case they did not seek international protection or their applications were rejected, either as inadmissible under the Safe Third Country or First Country of Asylum concepts, or on the merits.241 Following criticism by national and international organisations and actors, and due to the limited capacity to maintain and run closed facilities on the islands with a high number of people, the practice of blanket detention was largely abandoned from the end of 2016 onwards. It has been replaced by a practice of systematic geographical restriction, i.e., an obligation not to leave the island and reside at the hotspot facility, which is imposed indiscriminately to every newly arrived person (see Freedom of Movement). L.4825/2021242 replaced Article 8(4) L.4375/2016243 as follows: ‘The Regional Services of the Reception and Identification Services are: a. the Reception and Identification Centres (RIC), b. the Controlled Structures for Temporary Accommodation of asylum applicants and c. the Closed Controlled Access Centres, which are structured and have the responsibilities of RIC and within which, in separate spaces, facilities of temporary 238 239 240 241 242 243 GCR Submission to the Committee of Ministers of The Council οf Europe concerning the execution of the M.S.S. v. Greece group of cases April 2025 available here European Council, EU-Türkiye statement, 18 March 2016, available at: http://bit.ly/1VjZvOD. The Greens / European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, The EU-Türkiye Statement and the Greek Hotspots, a failed European pilot project in refugee policy, June 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/3sYrduD. In this respect, it should be mentioned that on 28 February 2017, the European Union General Court issued an order, ruling that ‘the EU-Türkiye Statement, as published by means of Press Release No 144/16, cannot be regarded as a measure adopted by the European Council, or, moreover, by any other institution, body, office or agency of the European Union, or as revealing the existence of such a measure that corresponds to the contested measure.’ Therefore, ‘the Court does not have jurisdiction to rule on the lawfulness of an international agreement concluded by the Member States’. The order became final on 12 September 2018, as an appeal lodged before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was rejected. See, General Court of the European Union, Cases T-192/16, T-193/16 and T-257/16 NF, NG and NM v. European Council, Order of 28 February 2017. See also, General Court of the European Union’s press release, 28 February 2017, available at: https://bit.ly/46KLkdk. See also, CJEU, Cases C-208/17 P, C-209/17 P and 210/17 P NF, NG and NM v European Council, Order of 12 September 2018. Article 28 L.4825/2021 on ‘Reform of deportation and return procedures of third country nationals, attraction of investors and digital nomads, issues of residence permit and procedures for granting international protection, provisions of competence of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum’. According to Article 8(4) L. 4375/2016, ‘[t]he Regional Services of the Reception and identification Service shall be: a. The Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) b. Mobile Reception and Identification Units (MRIU) c. The Open Temporary Reception Structures for third-country nationals or stateless persons who have applied for international protection, d. The Open Temporary Accommodation Structures for third-country nationals or stateless persons: who are under a return procedure in accordance with Article 22 of law 3907/2011, or with paragraph 3 of this Article in conjunction with Article 30 of law 3907/2011 or whose removal has been postponed in accordance with Article 24 of law 3907/2011 or who fall under the provisions of Article 76 para. 5 or Article 78 or Article 78a of law 3386/2005’. Article 30(4) L. 4686/2020 amended Article 8(4) L.4375/2016 and foresaw the establishment of the so called ‘Closed Temporary Reception Facilities’ for asylum seekers against whom a detention decision has been issued and the ‘Islands’ Closed Controlled Facilities’, for asylum seekers, persons under a removal procedure and persons under geographical limitation. Article 8(4) L. 4375/2016 as amended by Article 30(4) L. 4686/2020 was applied until the entry into force of L. 4852/2021 on 4 September 2021. 64