Tsipras said the registration and relocation process for refugees must begin in, insisting: ” is not the gateway; is the gateway”.
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Tsipras saw off the refugees from an airport in Athens, warning that there were many, many, more who needed similar treatment.
580,000 – the number of people have entered Greece from Turkey since January.
In September, the European Union unveiled a plan for redistributing almost 160,000 migrants and refugees from frontline states Italy and Greece although so far only a small number have been relocated.
The transfers are part of the EU’s new relocation plan that aims to move refugees from European Union countries on the front line of the migration crisis to other member states.
Tsipras said the financial crisis had created “a humanitarian crisis domestically” and his government wanted European creditors to show “the same solidarity that we are showing to the refugees”.
Over 400 refugees, among them many children, have drowned in the Aegean Sea since the beginning of 2015 in their attempt to cross the waters from neighboring Turkey. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. Pressure has mounted on the seamen’s union to allow exceptions for ferries chartered to transport the refugees and other migrants who reach Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast.
The coast guard says a total of 457 people were rescued between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning in the Aegean Sea in 13 separate incidents.
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.
Local authorities face an additional challenge this week as a four-day strike by sailors has prevented thousands of migrants from sailing to the mainland.
The ceremony in Athens was attended by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, EU Commissioner for migration and home affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos and Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn (rotating president of the EU Council). Hungary, once a key transit spot on the route, erected razor-wire fences on its southern borders, first with Serbia and then Croatia.
More than 600,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece so far this year, many in the past few months.
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A Greek asylum service official said the Iraqi and Syrian families leaving Athens on Wednesday, chosen because they are considered vulnerable, included 16 children – two of them disabled – and a pregnant woman.
