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First group of refugees arrives in Spain under EU's relocation agreement

Xinhua, November 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The first group of refugees seeking political asylum from the conflict in Syria and Iraq arrived late on Sunday night in Madrid from Italy where they had been staying.

The small group of 12 people, consisting of 11 Eritreans and a Syrian, arrived at Madrid's Adolfo Suarez-Barajas airport and were welcomed by the Secretary of State for Security at the Ministry of the Interior, Francisco Martinez and Marina del Corral, Secretary General for Immigration and Emigration at the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.

The number of arrivals was less than expected after Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria had informed a press conference on Friday that 19 people were expected to arrive on the flight from Italy.

These are the first of the slightly over 8,000 refugees Spain has agreed to accept as part of the EU agreement of September 22 in the first phase of the operation to house the tens of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in Syria and Iraq and who are currently staying in Italy and Greece.

Humanitarian organizations in Spain will now take care of the arrivals, taking them to different parts of the country and assisting with their integration under the agreement made with the EU.

Meanwhile Tuesday will see a meeting of the Inter-ministerial Commission for the Refugee crisis in Spain, which is headed by Saenz de Santamaria, along with Interior Minister, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, Justice Minister, Rafael Catala and Employment Minister, Fatima Banez.

The meeting will look at Sunday's arrivals and those which are programmed to take place between now and the end of 2015. Endit