On Wednesday 4 November, a first group of asylum seekers benefited from the EU's relocation scheme from Greece.

The group of 30 people, including 6 families with a total of 19 children, left Athens on a flight to Brussels, and then travelled by bus to Luxembourg, where their asylum claims will be processed. Present at the airport in Greece were Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Alternate Greek Minister responsible for Migration Policy Ioannis Mouzalas.

Commissioner Avramopoulos stated that the day marked “the end to a journey of danger and death for a small group of refugees” and “the starting point of a journey of optimism and hope”. He also stressed that relocation process “will be faced with various difficulties”, and that it has to be turned into a "regular process".

For more information, visit the European Commission’s website or UNHCR’s website. You can also read Commissioner Avramopoulos’ full remarks here.