The border fence between Greece and Turkey in Evros will extend about 80 km, Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi said in an interview with SKAI radio on Friday.
"Humanitarianism is very important but the people that wish to come to EU due to the inequalities that exist in the world are thousands of millions," the minister said.
"We do not speak of a closed Europe but neither of a Europe that the traffickers will decide who will come to Europe," he added.
Mitarachi underlined that the islet on Evros River is not Greek territory adding that the constant patrolling in the Aegean and the fence in Evros force the traffickers to find other routes, instrumentalising in parallel the islets of Evros.
Referring to the refugee flows, he said that last year (2021) we had the lowest number of arrivals in the last decade with 8,500 refugees. This year is expected to be the second lowest year in arrivals in the last decade with 7,000 arrivals until today.
Regarding the refugees hosting structure in Eleonas, Athens, he said that the government in cooperation with the municipality of Athens that is the land owner, decided to shut down the facility.
"Currently, we have 52 thousand hosting positions through Greece with only 18,000 of them occupied. A major decongestion has been achieved in the last years," Mitarachi underlined adding that from the 121 hosting facilities that existed in Greece only 34 of them are operating today.
