Thirty asylum seekers from Syria and Iraq boarded a plane from Athens to Luxembourg on Wednesday (4 November).
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The families appeared very happy to be leaving, smiling widely as they stood on the tarmac at the airport, where Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn were there to greet them.
The departure of six Syrian and Iraqi families is the beginning of an European Union program to reallocate refugees who have reached Greece through neighboring Turkey.
86 – refugees who have been transferred from Italy to Finland and Sweden under the scheme.
Tsipras said the families, who were chosen because they are considered vulnerable, were making “a trip to hope”, but warned that they are merely “a drop in the ocean” compared to the hundreds of thousands who have arrived on European shores this year.
A few European Union member states are unhappy that Brussels has set mandatory quotas for accepting refugees.
Refugees and migrants are likely to continue to arrive in Europe at a rate of up to 5,000 per day via Turkey this winter, the United Nations said on Thursday, appealing for more funds to avert tragedy in Greece and the Balkans in coming months.
A top European official said Tuesday that Greece and its European creditors should be able, by next week, to iron out disagreements on reforms the country must undertake to receive a new rescue loan installment.
“The Commission has but one compass, that of the growth and stability pact, and rules should be implemented”, he said, speaking through an interpreter. It needs 100 million euros for identification and relocation, the source said.
The relocation program aims to transfer 160,000 refugees from the European Union countries most affected by the influx to other member states.
At least 80 migrants, including many children, have died in the last week while trying to sail from Turkey to Lesbos and other Greek islands in rough weather.
Tsipras said the registration and relocation process for refugees must begin in, insisting: ” is not the gateway; is the gateway”. Another four people – two children and two men – drowned Tuesday night.
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Lesbos has run out of space in its mortuary for dead refugees and is now keeping them in a freezer lorry.
