First refugees officially relocated from Greece to Luxembourg

The first batch of 30 refugees, who had recently arrived in Greece from Turkey, were officially relocated from Greece to Luxembourg on Wednesday under a recent two-year plan agreed among European Union (EU) partners.

The refugees from four families from Syria and two from Iraq, including several children, left Athens as European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who was starting a two-day visit to Athens, and other European officials saw them off at Athens airport.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was also at Athens airport to see the 30 refugees off, repeating a call for stronger cooperation between the EU and Turkey so that the "Aegean Sea stops washing up bodies."

"The precondition for a most effective solution that does not risk human lives is the EU's cooperation with Turkey so that the identification and relocation process can start on Turkish shores and not the Greek islands," Tsipras told the press.

Tsipras said he will discuss the issue in an upcoming visit to Turkey later in November.

The officials attending the small ceremony at the airport, including European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and Greek Deputy Minister for Migration Policy Yannis Mouzalas, acknowledged that Wednesday's relocation was like a drop of water in the ocean.

They suggested more systematic steps so that Europe demonstrates substantial solidarity with the refugees fleeing war zones.

Under the EU's relocation quota plan, about 66,000 refugees must be relocated across the EU from Greece.

Since the start of the year, more than half a million refugees have reached Greece and most of them continued their journey to central and northern Europe unofficially, while hundreds have perished in the Aegean waters.

The Greek Coast Guard announced that early Wednesday they retrieved the dead bodies of two men, a woman and two children when a boat capsized off the coasts of Lesvos island. Sixty-two people were rescued.

On Thursday Tsipras and Schulz will visit Lesvos island which has received the bulk of arrivals this year to witness the efforts to manage the refugee influx.

On the agenda of their talks in Athens on Wednesday were the refugee crisis and the economic crisis that has hit Greece hard in recent years.

Tsipras asked international lenders to show to Greece the solidarity that the debt-laden country shows to refugees and ease the pressure for tough measures.

"Your requests are fair," Schulz said, pledging to discuss the issues with other European officials.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici, who started a two-day visit to Athens on Tuesday, noted that Athens should have resorted to Monday's Euro Group meeting so that the next bailout installment can be unlocked. Endi