Notis Mitarachi

The Migration Ministry has opened an office offering travel documents to refugees to help them go to other European Union countries, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Tuesday, following the departure of hundreds of migrants from state facilities, many of whom have been camping out in city squares.

As hundreds of refugees and migrants lined up to renew their temporary residence permits outside Greece's main Asylum Service a few kilometers north of central Athens for a third day on Friday, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis announced measures to facilitate the process and ease crowding amid fears of a coronavirus spread.

Amid vehement opposition from locals against the operation of a migrant camp that opened Malakasa, east of the Greek capital, in March, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Monday it will be the first of its kind on the mainland as the movement of its residents will be tightly monitored.

A new migrant camp in Malakasa, east of the Greek capital, will become the first of its kind on the mainland where the movement of its residents will be tightly monitored, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Monday.

Of the 93 facilities currently hosting migrants on the Greek islands, 60 that are operating in hotels will be closed by year-end with residents to be transferred to other facilities, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said Thursday during a training seminar for the 32 governors that have been appointed to oversee facilities on the mainland. 

Sixty out of the current 93 hospitality openings created in hotels for asylum seekers on the mainland will be closed in 2020 and the residents will be transferred to other facilities or will be included in the the UN Refugee Agency's ESTIA integration program, Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Thursday.

Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Notis Mitarakis on Tuesday held talks with Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis.

According to a post by Mitarakis on social media, talks focus on the integration of refugees and on ways to contain the impact of the migration crisis on the Greek capital. [ANA-MPA]
 

A total of 16,000 asylum applications were processed in Greece in April, four times the usual monthly average, according to Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis, who added that 11,000 applications have been rejected over the past two months, paving the way for returns to Turkey.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has argued that his ministry needs "flexibility" in dealing with Greece's migrant crisis since neighbouring Turkey abandoned a 2016 deal with the European Union in late February and lifted restrictions on migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Asia and Africa trying to reach the bloc via its territory.

The tension was palpable at the weekend at migrant facilities on the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos, Samos and Chios, with asylum seekers frustrated as they are not permitted to move outside the camps and are forced to wait in line for hours for food as a result of the problems created by the coronavirus restrictions.