It's been four years since the peak of the refugee crisis in Europe, but little has changed. 

Volunteers, charity rescue ships and coast guards are still rescuing saving those who've crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey or the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. 

While for the last few years refugee numbers arriving in Europe had been falling, but this year the number of people reaching the Greek islands surged. 

Greece 

More than 50,000 migrants and refugees have landed in Greece, a 200 percent rise on last year. 

The influx of arrivals caused chaos on the islands of Lesbos and Samos. On the former, there were some 6,000 people living in a  camp that was built to accommodate a mere 700. 

Many lived outside the camp's perimeter, in makeshift huts and flimsy tents erected on the side of a nearby rocky hill.  

The Mayor of Samos called the situation a "crisis," warning that the situation would eventually "explode.” 

In October it did. A fire broke out on Samos Island and 700 tents were burned in fighting between Pakistani and Afghan migrants. 

The Greek government soon started transferring people off the islands, moving them to mainland Greece, and announcing their intention to close the camps by early 2020. But the crisis has continued, with more refugees continuing to arrive, even in the winter months. 

Turkey 

The fate of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have always had political capital .  

Earlier in the year, Turkey, the transit country of many refugees on their way to Europe, threatened "open the floodgates". 

Ankara has accused the European Union of not delivering on their joint refugee deal, which expires at the end of the year. Under it Turkey was meant to receive almost $7 billion from the EU to help look after the four million refugees living in Turkey, most of them Syrian. Turkey says the EU hasn't paid up. 

Concurrently, Turkey has been rounding up two million Syrians with the intention to resettle them in the north of Syria.  

This convinced many refugees they should try to take their chance and reach Europe this year.  

Italy 

In Italy, a new government came to power and soon started an overhaul of the country's troubled migration policy, doing away with laws brought in by their far-right predecessors. 

Jointly led by then Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Italy had made it a criminal offense to help migrants. Many refugee centers were closed and rescue ships barred from entering Italian ports.  

So once again charity ships are rescuing people in the Mediterranean and delivering them to ports in Sicily and on the Italian mainland.  

The Balkans 

In central Europe it's a different picture, a slow disaster is unfolding on the Bosnian-Croatian border. 

Thousands of refugees and migrants are stuck there unable to move northward into Europe, living in appalling conditions exacerbated by the winter unable. 

This year we traveled with a group of Pakistani migrants as they left the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and headed to the Croatian border by train. In the middle of the night, Bosnian police forced them off, stating that there was no more room in the border town of Bihac. The men were then bused to an open field and told to sleep there without food or blankets. 

Croatia has closed its border with Bosnia and won't allow any refugees or migrants to cross, while the EU is funding the border force to patrol the borders mountainous regions. Refugees and migrants accuse Croatia border police of beating them and burning their backpacks. 

But the human spirit is strong and the border is long, so some people are finding a way to cross into Europe. Many of the men we met said they their final destination would, they hoped, be the UK.  

In October, Europe was again reminded of just how dangerous that journey can be. 

39 migrants, most of them believed to be from Vietnam died in the back of a refrigerated truck that entered the UK from Belgium. The bodies were found one hour from London in Essex. It is believed they were part of a human trafficking operation that ended in tragedy. All of the bodies have been returned to Vietnam. Police in the UK have raided a number of properties and charged the driver of the truck. 

The EU's response to the ongoing crisis has been to make deals with those countries on its periphery - Egypt, Niger, Libya and Albania -  who are tasked with holding migrants in centers supported by EU funding.  

A longstanding goal of Brussels, has been an agreement from all member countries to evenly allocate refugees and migrants, sharing the task of their integration. This has been repeatedly scuppered by countries, led by Hungary, who are steadfastly against accepting any more refugees. 

These efforts do not get to the heart of the problem. 

As long as there is war and poverty in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa there will always be people who try to escape from it. 

There are still hundreds of thousands of people across the world willing to take the risk and travel to Europe. Some of them don't realize how dangerous and difficult the trip will be, others say they have no choice and that anything is better than the life they have left behind. 

Whatever the risk and personal sacrifice desperate people want to come to Europe. And there is little the European Union can do to deter them.