Collected photo

ATHENS, June 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Greece's southernmost island is facing a significant increase in migration from Libya, its mayor said on Tuesday, warning it does not have the means to cope.

Lilian Stefanakis said the rise was "a heavy burden" for Gavdos, which is just 30 square kilometres (11.5 square miles), has 70 residents off-season and only a handful of shops.

Gavdos lies off the southern coast of neighbouring Crete and is about 300 kilometres (186 miles) from the Libyan city of Tobruk across the Mediterranean Sea.

"We don't have the capacity to manage these flows," Stefanakis told Greek public radio Ert. "Institutional solutions must be found."

According to the port police, 7,300 migrants have arrived on Crete and Gavdos since the start of this year compared to 4,935 for the whole of 2024.

Since the start of this month, 2,550 arrivals have been recorded.

Migrants leaving Libya hope to reach the European Union and follow instructions from people-smugglers, who for the past few months have been directing them to Crete and tiny Gavdos.

Crete does not have any camps to register asylum seekers and offers only emergency shelters for migrants before they are transferred to mainland Greece.

"The smugglers will not set the rules," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday, promising to raise the issue about increased migration flows from Libya at the next European summit.

"Navy ships will be sent outside Libya's territorial waters in order to control illegal migrant flows," he added.

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis later clarified that two military frigates would be sent.
Stefanakis said a vessel from the European Union's border agency Frontex was deployed and called for further reinforcement on the island.

The northeastern islands in the Aegean Sea opposite Turkey have traditionally been entry points to Greece and Europe for undocumented migrants and camps have been built.