The role and funding of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operating in the field of migration were the focus of a recent meeting between the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Vasilis Kikilias, and the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Makis Voridis, raising serious questions of transparency.

Thirty three members of four NGOs arrested in a migrant trafficking ring are accused of a series of illegal activities, and will possibly also faces charges of espionage.

Twenty-eight facilities hosting asylum applicants on the Greek mainland will become legal entities and come under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Migration and the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Migration Ministry said on Wednesday.