Refugee ‘hotspots’ to be operational within 15 days, EC says
Greece’s refugee “hotspot” centers will be operational within the next fifteen days, the European Commission has said.
During comments made Wednesday, the EU executive’s deputy chief spokeswoman Mina Andreeva also said that Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker had spoken on the telephone with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann who called for additional staff and experts to assist the bloc's border agency Frontex.
On Tuesday, Faymann and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited reception centers and were briefed by local authority officials on the situation on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos which has borne the brunt of a rising influx of migrants.
The EU-staffed “hotspots” – teams of border, legal and asylum experts – are considered key to identifying those in need of international protection among the tens of thousands of people arriving in Greece, as well as Italy.
