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First refugee relocation flight from Greece to depart for Luxembourg

Xinhua, November 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The first refugee relocation flight from Greece will depart for Luxembourg Wednesday, taking about 30 asylum seekers in Europe.

European officials including Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Greek Alternate Minister responsible for migration policy Ioannis Mouzalas, will meet with the first group of asylum seekers to benefit from the EU's relocation scheme from Greece.

According to the European Commission, the first flight from Greece is the result of intensive preparatory work on the ground by the Greek and Luxembourg authorities, and organizations such as Frontex, EASO (European Asylum Support Office) Europol, and UNHCR, as well as local NGOs, and by the special envoys which the European Commission has deployed on the ground.

"We commend Luxembourg for being the first member state to relocate people from Greece," said European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, noting that the EU was "counting on all member states to take the necessary steps so that more relocations can follow swiftly from Greece and Italy."

The EU member states' justice and home affairs ministers on Sept. 14 adopted the decision to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece. On Sept. 22, they agreed on the relocation of an additional 120,000 asylum seekers from member states directly affected by the refugee crisis.

The first relocation flight under the new scheme took place on Oct. 9 when 19 Eritrean asylum seekers were relocated from Italy to Sweden. A total of 86 asylum seekers have so far been relocated from Italy under the new scheme. Endit