Commission calls for faster pace in refugee relocations

Refugee relocations from Greece to other European Union states have still not picked up, with just 8,766 transfers since the deal went into effect in September 2015 against a target of 60,000 by end-2017, a European Commission announcement said on Wednesday.

“The past months have seen progress on both relocation and resettlement,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said. “But for our efforts to match the scale of the challenge in both the EU frontline member-states as well as our neighborhood, more needs to be done, and faster.”

According to the Commission, 3,813 relocations took place from Greece and Italy between December 8 and February 8, with the last month of 2016 seeing the highest number yet at 1,962, bringing the total to 11,966. However, it stressed that further efforts still need to be made to reach the monthly target of 2,000 relocations from Greece, which is currently struggling with more than 60,000 refugees and migrants trapped in the country.