Greece to Ask EU Financial Aid to Create 50,000 Places for Migrants by 2016

Athens could request additional EU funding to deliver on its obligation to increase migrant housing capacity by the end of the year, a source in the Greek government told the local Kathimerini newspaper Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Sunday, at an EU emergency summit on the refugee crisis, Greece agreed to create by January 50,000 places for migrants in refugee centers, as proposed by Germany and the European Commission.

"We had been prepared for 2,500 places — not for 20,000 in two months and another 20,000 via the rent-assistance program," the Greek government source said.

In recent months, Europe has been struggling to manage a major influx of migrants fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Nearly 500,000 migrants have arrived in Greece so far this year, with more than half arriving at Lesbos island, according to the EU border agency Frontex.