The European Union has so far allocated roughly 1.5 billion euros towards managing irregular migrant and refugee flows targeting Greece from neighboring Turkey and other third countries, with 750 staff members posted on various Greek islands, EU sources said this week.
At the same time, the sources referred to an almost "preferential" treatment of the east Mediterranean country, while also calling on Athens to further exploit available EU resources.
The breakdown is 393 million euros allocated by the EU Commission since the beginning of 2015, in the form of one-off aid to Greek authorities, international organizations and NGOs active in the country, and dealing with the humanitarian crisis that erupted that year.
Another 561 million euros has been provided by the Commission in the form of previously budgeted programs over the 2014-20 period, namely, 332.8 million euros from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and 238.2 million euros from the Internal Security Fund (ISF).
Moreover, another 700 million euros is budgeted over the 2016-18 period in the form of emergency aid, usually reserved for natural or manmade crises in the Union.
