Mitsotakis to chair KYSEA meeting on the increase of migration flows

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will chair a Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) meeting on Saturday, at 11.00, on the increase of migration flows.

The government is transferring 1,002 refugees who belong to high-vulnerability groups out of the Moria hotspot on Lesvos to the Nea Kavala centre in the Kilkis area of northern Greece, it said Friday.

The move to decongest the centre will take place on September 3, according to the Citizen Protection Ministry, which also asked the Moria Reception and Identification Center directors to identify who needs to be moved and to prepare them for the transfer. Two Hellenic Navy landing craft will be used for the purpose.

Migrants and refugees at the Moria hotspot have reached a total of 10,241. The number is much higher than what the facilities can support, turning the center into the largest Reception and Identification Center in Europe, according to its directors.

On Thursday, 13 boats with migrants arrived at Skala Sikamias, Lesvos, according to island authorities, or a total of 547 people. Of these, 177 are men, 124 women and 246 children.

Of the total, 193 were transferred to the Moria centre and the rest remained at the UNHCR camp in Sykamia, the so-called "stage 2", with the prospect of being transferred to Moria for registration.