A total of 10 countries, nine EU Member States and Switzerland, have said they are available to take in some of the 400 unaccompanied minors to be rehoused after the fire in the Moria camp, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Friday 11 September, together with Commission Vice-President Margarítis Schinás, at a joint press briefing.
France and Germany will take between 100 and 150, the German minister said 2 days after the fire left more than 12,000 people homeless. “The most important thing” is to find “shelter” for these people, the minister also said.
On Thursday evening, the Netherlands had also announced that it would be prepared to take in 100 minors. The other member countries are: Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Slovenia, Croatia and Portugal.
The Commission, for its part, has quickly organised the transfer of 400 unaccompanied minors from Lesbos to the mainland and is ready to take over the transfer to these countries, Mr Schinás said.
To a new camp
But the question inevitably arises: will the camp of Moria be rebuilt? “Greece will rebuild a camp on the island of Lesbos to house thousands of homeless asylum seekers”, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis replied in the afternoon after a meeting with Mr Schinás. But “new installations will be necessary [and] completed” with a different management model, he added, quoted by AFP.
The Pact for Asylum and Migration, expected on 30 September, could propose the principle of new centres at the external borders of the EU co-managed by the Union and the frontline country. These centres would aim to identify and select more quickly those who have the right to asylum and those who cannot stay in the EU. A new border procedure could be introduced.
In the morning, alongside Mr Seehofer, Mr Schinás said she was in favour of rebuilding the camp “as soon as possible”. However, he wanted to ask the Greek authorities to ensure that “local civil society” supports this project.
In the meantime, the vice-president said the forthcoming pact would be “in three tiers”: the first tier would be devoted to the external dimension and new agreements with non-Member States to prevent people from coming into the EU via trafficking networks; the second tier would be better protection at the external borders with a coastguard and border guard agency with new resources. The vice-president then acknowledged that Frontex’s current budget was not at the level of “our initial proposals”, but that he was “confident that we can do more and better”. The Member States reduced the budget allocated to the Agency at their Summit on 21 July (see EUROPE 12543/5).
Finally, the third stage is that of a permanent mechanism of solidarity between Member States, including solidarity in “responsibility for asylum”, which should not be left only to the front-line states or to a few countries that traditionally receive the largest number of asylum applications, such as Germany.
On 10 September, Greek Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis had urged the EU to put the migration crisis at the heart of its concerns after the fire.
“Europe must move from words of solidarity to a policy of deeds of solidarity. We must put the migration crisis at the heart of our discussions and be much more concrete”, he said, in Corsica, at a summit of heads of state and government of southern European countries, as reported by AFP.
The Moria camp housed more than 13,000 people, including 11,000 awaiting interviews for their applications, 1,400 with protection status and 900 rejected asylum seekers, according to figures provided by the Commission. 77% of the people present in Moria are Afghan and 8% are Syrian. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)