Greece on Saturday inaugurated two more migrant holding centres on the islands of Kos and Leros as part of a tougher policy for managing migrant flows from Turkey.
The “closed” camps feature barbed wire fencing, surveillance cameras, x-ray scanners and magnetic doors and gates that remain closed at night.
They also have many amenities, like running water and toilets, that were absent from the previous facilities that became infamous for their living conditions.
READ MORE: Greek authorities begin moving migrants into new camp on Samos island.
Both camps can accommodate over 2,000 migrants each.
“The new modern and multipurpose reception and identification centers that we inaugurated today on Leros and Kos are another tangible proof of the undivided European solidarity with Greece,” European Commission Vice President, Margaritis Schinas, said during the inauguration ceremony on Saturday.
For his part, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said that a page has been turned.
“Images like those experienced by the islands in the period 2015-19 belong definitively to the past,” he said.
The new camp comes as Greece inaugurated the first such camp on the island of Samos in September. The country plans to open two more in the coming months on the islands of Lesvos and Chios.
READ MORE: Greece opens new migrant camp on Samos island amid tougher policy.
The EU has committed 276 million euros for the new camps.
Source: Ekathimerini.
