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Athens (dpa) - The new refugee camps planned for the Greek islands of the eastern Aegean are supposed to ease the situation there significantly.
Johansson: Islanders carry a heavy burden
That was the prospect of EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson on a visit to Greece.
The islanders have a disproportionately high burden on the refugee issue, said Johansson.
The situation for residents and migrants alike should be improved by building new reception camps on the island of Lesbos, among other places.
"There are limits to patience"
"There are limits to patience among the islanders," said Johansson at a press conference with the Greek migration minister, Notis Mitarakis, in Athens.
The new camp on Lesbos should ensure that there is never another camp like Moria.
The notorious, always completely overcrowded camp burned down last September.
The people are currently living in a makeshift tent camp.
Camp on five islands
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Johansson stressed that the new camp had to be built quickly, "so that we don't have problems for migrants and islanders again in winter," she said.
The EU wants to provide 276 million euros for the construction of the camps on Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Leros and Chios.
Criticism from the regional governor
The camp on Samos is almost finished, but on other islands citizens and politicians are resisting the construction of new camps.
Kostas Moutzouris, regional governor of the islands of the North Aegean, stayed away from an event with Johansson on Lesbos on Monday.
He criticized that the EU had created facts with the planned construction of new camps without asking the population.
Their resistance will be ignored, he told the Greek media.
There are currently around 14,000 refugees and migrants living on the islands of the East Aegean;
last year there were more than 42,000.
© dpa-infocom