Immigration Minister: 25-30 thousand refugees remain permanently in Greece

Between 25,000-30,000 refugees and immigrants, who have applied for asylum and are not subject to relocation will remain permanently in Greece, Minister of Immigration Policy Ioannis Mouzalas said. In an interview with the newspaper “Ta Nea”, Mr. Mouzalas said that three new programmes of integration were in the pipelines, the first one dealing with new registration, qualities, issuing Tax Registration Number and Social Security Number (subject to eligibility), the second concerns the registration of all children in the schools and an English learning programme, while the third is about integration in the work market. Mr. Mouzalas stressed that the agreement between Turkey and the EU had only positive effects, adding that Athens was closely following all developments that could jeopardise the balance in the region.