ANGELIKI DIMITRIADI policies and particularly the EU-Turkey Statement, the way it is implemented by the Greek government, and the multilevel impact at the local (islands), national (Greece) and individual (migrants) level. The article begins with a discussion of the EU-Turkey Statement and the instalment of the hotspots on the Greek islands. The role of the islands in the imposed strandedness is discussed in Section 3, while Section 4 discusses some of the ways migrants have sought to overcome both detention and potential return to Turkey. Migrant agency emerged in small acts of opposition, which can be analysed to reveal how a policy designed to function as a tool of border management has placed inordinate burden on Greece, the islands and the migrants. The article concludes by arguing that the current policies applied in the Northern Aegean offer a view from the margins of Europe of what future policies (and partnerships) on migration will look like for the external borders and for the neighbouring partner countries. 2 2 From the hotspot approach to the EU-Turkey Statement To understand how the concept of hotspot has reshaped the discussion on migration and border spaces, one must turn first to the European Agenda on Migration. The EU Agenda stemmed from a need to create a holistic migration management policy, one that would combine external and internal instruments, tools and policies in addressing irregular migration. The hotspot approach was left undefined, giving emphasis to the operational aspects of the Agencies in the identified hotspots, such as Lampedusa and the Greek islands. In July 2015, Commissioner D. Avramopoulos released an explanatory note outlining what constitutes a hotspot, in line with the European Council Conclusions of June 2015: A «Hotspot» is characterized by specific and disproportionate migratory pressure, consisting of mixed migratory flows, which are largely linked to the smuggling of migrants, and where the Member State concerned might request support and assistance to better cope with the migratory pressure […] In principle, an external border section should be considered to be a «Hotspot» for the limited period of time during which the emergency or crisis situation subsists and during which the support of the «Hotspot» approach is necessary (Statewatch, 2015, p. 5). A specific approach would be implement in these hotspots, according to the EU Agenda, requiring that the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), EU Border Agency (FRONTEX), the EU Police Cooperation Agency (Europol) and the EU Judicial Cooperation Agency (Eurojust) «should work on the ground with the authorities of the frontline Member State» (European Commission, 2015a) in managing irregular arrivals. Specific functions were designated in the hotspots: registration and screening by FRONTEX for nationality determination and fingerprint by the national authorities, followed by a first screening interview. Following the screening, in theory it should be possible to distinguish between – 78 –