Greek Minister of Immigration Noti Mitarakis said today, Monday, that his country will start construction of new reception centers to decide immigrant applications in March.
He said that the centers that will be established in the islands of Lesbos, Kyos, Samos, Leros and Kos in the Aegean Sea will end within 90 days of the start of construction.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to close down the so-called hotspots set up on the islands in 2016 to consider asylum applications from thousands of migrants who have arrived from countries like war-torn Syria through Turkey.
However, the camps were unable to continue to work in the face of pressure on arrivals, and they became overcrowded.
It is noteworthy that the new facilities fall within the government´s plans to speed up the deportations and process applications.
"We are planning to repatriate two hundred migrants per week to Turkey," said Mitarakis.
Unlike the existing camps, people in the new camps will be allowed to leave when they obtain permission, but only until evening.
To speed up the construction process, the government issued a decree today allowing the nationalization of land where necessary, while paying compensation to its owners, a government spokesman said in Athens.
In an effort to curb the influx of people, the Greek government is boosting the presence of the border police with 1,200 policemen on the islands and along the land border with Turkey.
In 2018, about 50,000 people arrived from Turkey, while last year the number reached more than 74,000, the highest since 2016.
