Athens, Lisbon Sign Deal to Relocate 1,000 Asylum Seekers to Portugal - Ministry

ATHENS (Sputnik) – Greece and Portugal have signed a bilateral agreement on the relocation of 1,000 asylum seekers who have received or requested asylum, the Greek Ministry for Migration Policy said Friday.

"The first pilot phase involves the relocation of 100 persons, who have been granted or who are seeking asylum and who are in refugee camps in Greece, to Portugal," the ministry’s statement reads.

The Greek ministry added that the agreement defines the resettlement process, complies with the current international and European legislation on asylum, gives priority to families, and has received the consent of the European Commission.

The agreement was reached back in October between Greek Migration Policy Minister Dimitrios Vitsas and Portuguese Minister of Internal Administration Eduardo Cabrita.

Since 2015, Europe has been experiencing its worst migration crisis in recent history, struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing hostilities in Middle Eastern and North African countries. Hundreds of thousands of migrants are trying to reach EU states using various routes, mostly via Greece or Italy.