NEW MPRICS/CCACS The changes to the asylum system detailed in the previous section indicate a policy that expands the use of closed Multi-purpose Reception and Identification Centres (MPRICs) or, as they are referred to in Greek legislation, Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCACs). In stark contrast with promises made by the New Democracy party of immediate action towards decongesting the ‘hotspot’ islands (Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos), this incumbent policy, in conjunction with €276million of earmarked EU funds directed towards the construction of such centres, speaks to a strengthened politics of containment in the Aegean, Mediterranean, and mainland, with a commitment to cease transfers of PoM, who have crossed the Aegean Sea, to the mainland. While the majority of PoM trapped on the mainland have been unable to apply for asylum since the 22nd of November, questions surrounding the future of asylum in Greece are paramount. Discursive assurances from Greece’s New Democracy party elucidate the ridiculousness of another unfolding summer of migration after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan this past year. Despite the Greek government’s published data (January 27, 2022) citing a 79% decrease in PoM living on the Greek islands and a 49% decrease in the overall ‘migrant and refugee population’, combinations of proliferating pushbacks and data miscalculations from the Hellenic Coast Guard of registered arrivals lead to larger questions about new forms of migration management taken on by the Greek government. The future, it seems, remains border externalisation inter alia capacity building of reception centres on hotspot islands, pushbacks, restrictions on the right to asylum and restrictions on physical and labour mobility. Cash assistance Greece’s Refugee Cash Assistance Programme (RCA) has been instrumental in providing financial assistance to PoM, sustaining some of the costs associated with living, applying for asylum and to offset the costs of untenable insertion into the formal labour market, as the possibility of engaging in recognized work whilst waiting for the adjudication of asylum claims is non-existent. The programme provided differing amounts of financial support to PoM, and was part of the Refugee Cash Assistance Programme, funded by the European Commission in cooperation with the UNHCR, as part of the ESTIA programme (Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation). Launched in 2016, funding began in Greece in the spring of 2017 and has supported more than 200,000 ‘vulnerable asylum seekers’, said the UNHCR in a statement. This past August, the UNHCR announced that they would pay their last installment to eligible recipients through to the 30th of September 2021, before handing the fiscal baton over to the Greek government. Crucially, RCA ‘gives refugees the power of choice’, highlights the UNHCR, namely as a step towards financial inclusion into local markets, independent and sustainable livelihood building, freedom and security via financial autonomy and as a means to support the local economy. Provided in the form of prepaid cards, topped up every month, financial support has fluctuated from the programme’s inception. Namely thirty days following asylum decisions, cash assistance is revoked. Subsequently, RCA is linked with accommodation under the ESTIA programme, meaning that financial assistance is only provided to POM living in reception centres and specific facilities operated by public entities and international organisations, given that there is proof that a beneficiary in the programme is not working and/or not earning adequately to cover the costs of living. Front of New MPRIC/CCAC on Samos 7