Athens Announces Requisition of Land, Establishment of Enclosed Migrant Camps

Stelios Petsas, the spokesperson of the Greek government, announced on Monday that the current administration will issue a Legislative Act today by which the state will be able to proceed with the requisition of public and private properties where new migrant camps will be constructed.
Petsas referred to a comprehensive, fourfold plan to deal with the refugee and migrant situation based on the principles of “safeguarding Greek borders,” speeding up asylum procedures, increasing deportations and creating ”closed structures,” namely the new, enclosed detention centers.
”The cabinet is today adopting a Legislative Act authorizing the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum to requisition, for reasons of public interest, necessary property and land in order to manage the crisis and address the urgent need to avoid danger in public order and public health,” Petsas told reporters in Athens.
The government announced that the areas of Karavas in western Lesvos, Kritikos Lakkos or Pseira 17 on Chios, and Zervos in Eastern Samos have now been requisitioned by the Greek state to build new migrant camps.
Additionally, Petsas said that properties on the islands of Kos and Leros which are already public will also be used to build new camps.
These facilities are expected to replace the current chaotic situation reigning in most of the existing camps on these islands by the early summer of 2020.
”Controlled closed structures mean defined and strict rules of indoors order, which concern both the operation of the centers and the movement of the guests,” the government spokesperson said.
Petsas also noted that the refugees and migrants there will be able to leave in a timely and orderly manner and will have to return to the camp as specified. Any failure to do so or any disobedience to the facilities’ orders will have negative repercussions on migrants’ asylum applications.