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Refugee relocation from Greece to other EU countries progressing at slow pace

Xinhua, December 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

The three-year relocation program of refugees from Greece to other EU countries launched in early November had only processed 82 refugees as of Dec. 20, according to data released by the Greek Asylum Authority on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Greek officials said hundreds of requests had been pending for weeks.

Greece has been heavily criticized by some of it's partners over it's response to the refugee crisis this year.

The debt-laden country has responded that no country can bear such a huge burden on its own and has been asking EU partners to speed up the procedures and quickly receive the 66,000 refugees of the almost 800,000 people that have landed on Greek shores in 2015, as agreed this autumn.

According to the Greek side, until Dec. 20, the Greek Asylum Service had received and forwarded to other EU countries a total of 449 requests from people for the relocation program.

Yet only 30 refugees were transferred to Luxembourg, 24 to Finland, 10 to Germany, 14 to Portugal and four to Lithuania, while more than 300 requests are still pending.

Under the program, the relocation must be completed within two months after the host country gives the green light. Endit