In the first quarter of 2016, the number of illegal border-crossings by migrants travelling from Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria dropped 84% from the previous three months to 215 000. The fall became more pronounced in February and March, when coordinated restriction measures were introduced at regional level and, ultimately, the transit corridor was closed. After the closure in March, the number of detections dropped to the level close to that of the same month in 2015 and helped reduce the number of people arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey.
This number was cut even further after the EU-Turkey statement that came into effect on March 20.
Fewer than 2 500 of the illegal border crossings were associated with regional migrants in the first quarter.
The number of people smugglers detected on the Western Balkan route fell for the second consecutive quarter to 261, its lowest since the third quarter of 2014. However, the decision to close the organised transit corridor is likely to increase migrants’ demand for people smuggling services.