Authorities struggle to accommodate migrants
A government official indicated Tuesday that a plan to evacuate a makeshift camp for migrants at the old Athens international airport in Elliniko by the end of July might be “wishful thinking” as an alternative venue has yet to be found.
Conditions at the site, where some 4,000 migrants live in tents, are degenerating due to rising temperatures, according to Elliniko Mayor Yiannis Konstantatos.
Meanwhile sources said that authorities are to create a wing at a detention center in Amygdaleza, north of Athens, to host more than 300 migrants who have joined a voluntary repatriation program.
On Lesvos, which bore the brunt of a migrant influx for months, 35 people arrived Tuesday from Turkey. Arrivals have drastically fallen since March, when the European Union signed a deal with Ankara to return migrants to Turkey.
But hoteliers say tourism has been hit hard by the migrant crisis and are asking for tax breaks and aid. Charter flights to the island were down by 65 percent in May.
