Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas said in an interview with public broadcaster ERT that the construction of new settlements with houses instead of tents on the model of Eleonas will begin at the end of June.

He also added that most of the temporary accommodation structures will be knocked down in September, while the refugees will be allocated throughout Greece based on geographic and population data.

Mr. Mouzalas underlined that the government’s next priority is the transfer of refugees from former Elliniko airport as soon as new structures are constructed.

The minister also referred to the long delays in the accommodation of unaccompanied minors and promised 800 new positions by the end of June.

Mr. Mouzalas said he was satisfied in general with the progress made on the refugee issue adding that until last year Greece had no facilities at all and it was called to accommodate 55,000-60,000 refugees when the borders closed.

Regarding the EU-Turkey agreement, he said that “We have delivered on our promises, the EU and Turkey need to do the same.”, while he also suggested that “the Western world must adopt a policy toward migration,” because migration will continue for years because of the wars, poverty and climate change.