Thirty Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers were flown out of Greece to Luxembourg on Wednesday, marking the start of refugee relocations from a country that has been at the front line of Europe’s migration crisis.
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The Prime Minister stressed it was only the start of the programme which aims to disperse 160,000 migrants throughout the EU.
Finding even 30 people to volunteer for Greece’s first relocation effort wasn’t easy for Greek authorities.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held a joint press conference with four other European Union officials ahead of the migrant transfer.
“But we hope that this becomes a stream, and then a river of humanity and shared responsibility”.
He spoke as Fabrice Leggeri, the head of the ‘s border agency, told ‘s newspaper that migrants have made a few 800,000 “illegal entries” to the bloc so far this year and warned that the influx has probably not “reached its peak”.
The disused facility, used during the Athens Olympics 2004, reopened a month ago for migrants as more than 600,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this year trying to head to more prosperous European Union countries in the north. Such danger could be avoided if refugees were registered and entered legal relocation schemes from Turkey itself, Mr Tsipras said. A small group has already been relocated from Italy. It was taken on Lesvos, an island which has received the bulk of refugees. It seeks the fairest distribution of the asylum seekers.
Sweden is reportedly keen to tap into Hungary’s relocation quota after the Central European country – mainly a country of transit for migrants – refused the EU’s offer to relieve it of 54,000 arrivals on procedural grounds.
Several European countries have closed their borders in the midst of the migrant crisis, and on Tuesday Austria became the latest country to tout plans to tighten its asylum rules.
Lawmakers in Vienna on Tuesday submitted a bill proposing that anyone granted asylum would be reassessed after three years and sent back home if their country of origin was deemed safe.
And in France, a young French fishermen was among eight people arrested on suspicion of helping migrants cross the Channel to Britain aboard a high-speed inflatable boat.
Refugees and migrants arrive aboard the passenger ferry Eleftherios Venizelos from the island of Lesbos at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, November 2, 2015.
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Speaking Wednesday during a visit to Athens, Pierre Moscovici said compromise was possible on how to tackle the problem of distressed mortgages but that decisions need to be taken quickly if Greece is to receive funds from its new 86-billion euro, three-year bailout. It would also make them prove they have an independent source of income, health insurance and accommodation.
