On Wednesday an announcement by the European Commission stressed the need to pick up the pace at which the resettlement program for refugees is moving along. The program began in September 2015 and thus far a mere 8,766 refugees have been transferred from Greece to resettle in other European Union (EU) countries — nowhere near the end-of-year goal for 2017 that aims to have 60,000 refugees resettled.
The EU Migration Commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos said that although recent months have seen the pace pick up some that it is still not enough.
“…For our efforts to match the scale of the challenge in both the EU frontline member-states as well as our neighborhood, more needs to be done, and faster,” Avramopoulos said noting that more efforts need to be done in order to reach the 2,000 relocations per month goal the program has set in place.
The time between December 8 (2016) and February 8 (2017) saw the highest numbers for the resettlement of refugees ever with some 1,962 people relocated.
To date there are over 60,000 migrants and refugees trapped in Greece as other EU countries have closed their borders.
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