The European Union will pay migrants in the Greek islands' overcrowded camps €2,000 ($2,225) each to return to their countries of origin.  

Following a meeting with the Greek government, EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson announced the scheme in a bid to ease the pressure on the camps.  

Johansson said the measure was only temporary – open for one month only – and only eligible for migrants who arrived before 1 January. An estimated 5,000 migrants would be eligible for the "voluntary return,” she added.  

"I think this is an opportunity to actually release a bit of the pressure on the islands for the other people who are still in the camps," Johansson explained.  

Greece has, once again, been facing an influx of migrants and refugees who have arrived on its islands near Turkey by boat. Camps on those islands, designed for 6,000 people, already house more than 40,000.  

And the crisis looks set to continue, after Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he would not stop migrants trying to cross Turkey's border into Greece, despite EU pressure to do so.  

On 28 February, Turkey announced it would no longer keep migrants and refugees on its territory as part of a 2016 deal with Brussels in return for EU aid for the refugees. 

A summit between Turkey and the EU to discuss the matter is scheduled for next week.