EU grants 37.5 million euros to Greek migrant centres

The European Commission announced an emergency funding package for Greece on Wednesday aimed at improving migrant and refugee camps in the country.

The announcement was made by the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos who said the EU Commission has awarded an additional 37.5 million euros in emergency assistance under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to improve reception conditions for migrants in Greece.

"The Commission is doing everything in its power to support all member-states facing migratory pressures - whether that is in the Eastern, Central or Western Mediterranean. Migration is a European challenge and we need a European solution, where no member-state is left alone. Greece has been on the frontline since 2015 and while the situation has greatly improved since the EU-Turkey Statement, we continue to assist the country with the challenges it is still facing. The Commission's political, operational and financial support for Greece remains tangible and uninterrupted," Avramopoulos said.

The EU funding package means Greek authorities will receive 31.1 million euros to support the provisional services offered to migrants, including healthcare, interpretation, and food, and to improve the infrastructure of the Reception and Identification Centre of Fylakio in the Evros region in Northern Greece. The extra funding will also contribute to the creation of additional accommodation spaces within existing and new sites in mainland Greece.

An additional 6.4 million euros has been awarded to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to improve reception conditions and to provide site management support to selected sites on the mainland.

The funding decision comes on top of more than 1.6 billion euros of funding support awarded by the Commission since 2015 to address migration challenges in Greece. Under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF), Greece has been awarded 456.5 million euros in emergency funding, in addition to 561 million euros already awarded under these funds for the Greek national programme 2014-2020.

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