Greek Cabinet Adopts Emergency Measures for Islands Awash in Migrants

The Greek cabinet decided on Monday to go ahead with two ambitious programs which aim to ease the burden on the Eastern Aegean islands due to the increased influx of refugees and migrants who are coming to Greece through Turkey.
In a meeting held in Athens on Monday afternoon, the Greek government made a decision to implement two different relocation programs.
The first, which is funded completely by the European Commission, involves the transfer of 40,000 refugees and immigrants either to the mainland of Greece or elsewhere.
A total of 16,000 additional refugees and migrants are expected to be transported across the country under the auspices of the Greek program ”Helios,” to specially-designed camps or hotels and motels.
The Greek government also decided to go ahead with the construction of enclosed centers for those who have entered the country illegally and are not entitled to asylum, or who have had their applications rejected.
Greece also aims to increase the repatriation of those who are not granted asylum status by 10,000 until December of 2020.
The Greek government will bring forward a bill very soon which aims to speed up procedures in order to more expeditiously determine whether migrants should be granted asylum status or if they should be deported.
The legislation will also seek to establish a ”safe country” scheme, via an international agreement, by which those who must be deported can go to another country safely.
Greece will make a joint presentation to the EU, along with Cyprus and Bulgaria, the other EU member states close to Turkey, on a proposal to reduce the number of migrants arriving on the shores of EU lands from Turkey.
Concurrent with the meeting, Greece’s Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Eleftherios Economou publicly admitted on Monday that Greece is going through a national crisis regarding the number of migrants arriving on its shores.
”Winter is on the way and all Greeks, throughout the country, must help in the work that is starting to be carried out to relieve the islands,” Economou asserted.