or mandated that said “channelling” (or referral) was to be made within the premises of the initial arrival/reception facility (i.e., the RICs or “hotspots”). Instead, the initial Greek response to the “hotspot approach” seems to refer to ‘[a] headquarter Hotspot in Piraeus […] where asylum seekers [would have been] received from different arrival points’, which if implemented as such, could have perhaps led to the establishment of a more functional reception system. 194 Five hotspots, under the legal form of First Reception Centres – later known as Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) – were established in Greece on the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos. In 2021, on Samos, Leros and Kos, the RICs were converted into ‘Closed Controlled Access Centres of Islands (CCAC) and new EU facilities were established. 195 The CCAC in Samos was inaugurated on 18 September 2021 and the ones in Leros and Kos on 27 November 2021. 196 Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) and Closed Controlled Access Centres of Islands (CCACI) Hotspot Start of operation Capacity Occupancy Non-operational 3,871 Estimated 5,000 Non-operational 3,836 Non-operational 1,014 1,020 Estimated 1,800 Non-operational 3,664 4,126 3,455 1,506 2,152 14,156 1,691 12,179 Lesvos RIC (Moria) CCAC (Mavrovouni) CCAC (Vastria) October 2015 September 2020197 Under construction CCAC (Chalkios) CCAC (Akra Pachi – Tholos) February 2016 Under construction RIC CCAC March 2016 18 September 2021 Chios Samos Kos RIC CCAC June 2016 27 November 2021 Leros RIC CCAC TOTAL June 2016 27 November 2021 Source: National Coordination Centre for Border Control, Immigration and Asylum, National Situational Picture regarding the islands at eastern Aegean sea as of 31 December 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/24ff357u. It was initially planned that the five hotspot facilities would have a total capacity of 7,450 places. 198 According to official data, however, their capacity had increased to 13,338 places by the end of 2020. In 2021, the construction of the CCAC increased capacity to 15,934 places. Notwithstanding, increased arrivals in the summer of 2023, at a 169% rate compared to 2022, 199 lead to severe overcrowding of the 194 195 196 197 198 199 European Commission: Migration and Home Affairs, The Hotspot approach to managing exceptional migratory flows, 11 September 2015, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2kxbbt9y; See also GCR, Limits of Indignation: the EU-Turkey Statement and its implementation in the Samos ‘hotspot’; 10 April 2019, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4h3szes5. Ministerial Decision 25.0 / 466733/15-12-2021, according to which the RIC of Samos, Leros and Kos are renamed as ‘Closed Controlled Access Centres of Islands (C.C.A.C.I.)’, See also Art. 8 par. 4 L.4375/2016, see also EU Commission, DG Migration and Home, Annual Activity Report 2020, https://tinyurl.com/4ctyva7w. MoMA, The Minister for Migration and Asylum, Mr. Notis Mitarachi, inaugurated the new closed controlled access centres in Samos, 18 September 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3DHQzOe; MoMA, N. Mitarachi: Today in Leros and Kos, as a few days ago in Samos and in a few months in Chios and Lesvos, we inaugurate the new Closed Controlled Access Centres, with a view to the future. Images we can all recall from the period 2015-2019 belong definitely to the past, 27 November 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3j61isb. A new facility in Kara Tepe (Mavrovouni) was established in September 2020 after Moria RIC burnt down. In November 2022, the RIC in Mavrovouni has been converted in CCAC. (Article 12, Presidential Decree 77/2022- Gov. Gazette 212/A/17-11-2022). European Commission, Third Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Türkiye Statement, COM(2016) 634, 28 September 2016, available at: https://bit.ly/47GuGx0. MoMA, Information note reception and identification procedures, December 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/2cw22ree. 55