New EU scheme to provide rent, cash cards, for refugees in Greece, as tension mounts

Record ID: 904348

  • Title: New EU scheme to provide rent, cash cards, for refugees in Greece, as tension mounts
  • Date: 27th July 2017
  • Summary: LESBOS, GREECE (FILE - 2016) (REUTERS) SPRAWLING MORIA CAMP AS SEEN FROM ABOVE IN VALLEY VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS GATHERED AND WALKING IN CAMP AS SEEN FROM ABOVE ENTRANCE OF CAMP WITH BARBED WIRE FENCE BARBED WIRE FENCE AROUND CAMP MIGRANTS WALKING OUTSIDE ENTRANCE, SITTING IN COFFEE SHOP ACROSS FROM CAMP MIGRANTS SITTING AT TABLE IN COFFEE SHOP
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2017 16:44
  • Keywords: migrants refugees EU Commission pre-paid cards home rentals islands
  • Location: ATHENS, LESBOS AND CHIOS, GREECE
  • City: ATHENS, LESBOS AND CHIOS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026RHUSEF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The European Commission will give Greece 209 million euros in new emergency aid to help migrants and refugees stranded in the country rent homes and use a cash card for daily needs, it said on Thursday (July 27) during a news conference in Athens.
    About 62,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since European countries closed their borders in March last year, and tensions have risen in overcrowded camps, lately marred by violence.
    The scheme will provide 24,000 rented homes in cities and towns in Greece. Pre-paid credit cards will be given to migrants and refugees for basics such as food, school and transportation.
    EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides said the scope is to better integrate migrants and refugees into Greek society. UNHCR representative in Greece Philippe Leclerc said the scheme will contribute to solving tensions in overcrowded camps, which he said have increased as of late due to new arrivals on islands such as Lesbos, Chios and Samos.
    Camps on the islands have seen protests and violence in recent months due to overcrowded conditions and the slow process of relocation and re-unification to other EU countries. Leclerc said the process was finally moving with 16,500 people having been relocated from Greece.
    EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Europe was being tested by the migration crisis.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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