While there has been talk of evacuating migrants from a makeshift camp at Athens’ old international airport of Elliniko by the end of July, last week a Greek government official indicated it’s more likely to be “wishful thinking”, reports Kathimerini.
Some 4,000 migrants currently inhabit the grounds in tents, and an alternative site has yet to be identified, despite Elliniko mayor Yiannis Konstantatos admitting that conditions are steadily deteriorating with the rising temperatures of the summer heat.
The only plan so far is to create a wing at a detention centre in the capital’s north, in Amygdaleza, which will host more than 300 migrants as part of a repatriation program.
Meanwhile, on Lesvos migrant arrivals have fallen significantly, attributed to the deal signed by the European Union with Ankara to return arriving migrants to Turkey.
However, business owners on the island say they have definitely felt the brunt of the migrant influx and are asking for tax breaks, after charter flights to Lesvos in the month of May were down by 65 per cent.