France announced that they will take 234 asylum seekers from Greece on Wednesday October 18th, as part of a Europe-wide program of relocation.
In a press release the French embassy in Athens states that the transfer is within the framework of the European Union’s program and the International Organization for Immigration.
The group consists of 132 adults and 102 children, most of which are families. There are 190 Syrian citizens, 11 Palestinians, 27 Iraqis, and 6 other people who have declared themselves stateless.
The EU’s plan for sharing out refugees has been very slow in taking off. It was set up as Greece struggled to cope with the chaotic arrival of nearly a million people in 2015, many of them Syrian refugees, and most of whom went to Germany.
To date, France has relocated 4,091 asylum seekers from Greece, out of a total of 20,471 people who have been relocated to other EU countries. This represents about 20% of the total number of relocations throughout Europe.
France is fully involved in the process of relocation, demonstrating “solidarity between EU Member States”, the French embassy says.
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