The European Commission and the Greek Government signed a memorandum on Thursday 3 December to establish a new reception centre in Lesbos by September 2021, the Commission announced in a press release. It will have capacity for 5,000 people.
A task force was set up after the fire last September in Moria camp, which left more than 12,000 people homeless. Since then, 7,200 people have been relocated to a new centre, also criticised by NGOs, and other more vulnerable migrants have been relocated to the mainland.
The Memorandum signed between the two parties defines the respective responsibilities and areas of co-operation between the Commission, the Greek authorities and EU agencies. It largely anticipates the implementation of the new rules of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’.
The areas identified are: - the development and construction of a reception centre designed to provide adequate conditions and to operate according to fast, fair and efficient procedures; - improved arrival management with comprehensive reception and identification procedures, including health and safety checks in a specially designed area; - seamless asylum and return procedures, including assisted voluntary return and reintegration programmes; - reception conditions in accordance with Community law, in particular as regards health, safety, hygiene, food and common areas.
Link to the memorandum: https://bit.ly/3lBrdqH (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)