In letters sent by Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis to EU Internal Affairs Council chairman Annemie Turtelboom and Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Greece has requested EU assistance in the form of immediate deployment of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT), coordinated by FRONTEX on its eastern borders to stem the mass influx of undocumented migrants.

In his letters, Papoutsis said that "a mass influx has been noted daily, on Greece's external land borders with Turkey, of third-country nationals who attempt to illegally enter Greek territory with the aim of accessing other EU countries." He also stressed that "the increasing pressure of illegal migrant flows at the Greek borders is clearly a European problem and requires a corresponding European solution in the context of EU solidarity."