Author
Material reception conditions may be provided in kind and/or in the form of financial aid.[1]
With regards to the first, according to Article 60(1) of the Asylum Code, where accommodation is provided in kind, it should take one or a combination of the following forms:
- Premises used for the purpose of accommodating applicants during the examination of an application for international protection made at the border or in transit zones;
- Accommodation centres, which can operate in properly customised public or private buildings, under the management of public or private non-profit entities or international organisations and guarantee a suitable standard of living;
- Private houses, flats and hotels, rented in the context of accommodation programmes implemented by public or private non-profit entities or international organisations.
In all cases, the provision of accommodation is under the supervision of the competent reception authority, in collaboration, where applicable, with other competent state bodies. The law provides that the specific situation of vulnerable persons, such as minors (accompanied and unaccompanied), people with disabilities, elderly people, single-parent households and pregnant women, should be taken into account in the provision of reception conditions.[2]
In practice, following the termination of the ESTIA accommodation programme in December 2022,[3] camp-based accommodation has become the only available accommodation provided under the Greek reception system. As of the end of 2025, facilities used for this purpose included 24 Controlled Temporary Accommodation camps, the RICs of Fylakio, Malakasa and Diavata on the mainland, and the Closed Control Access Centres (CCACs) operating –under EU funding– on the Eastern Aegean islands, where asylum applicants have continued being contained in prison-like conditions.[4] The “detention-like nature” of island facilities was also noted by the EU Ombudsperson in the context of an own-initiative inquiry regarding the use of EU funds in the CCACs.[5]
To be noted, this new camp-based model of reception, which inter alia fosters conditions of social isolation for applicants, stands in stark contrast to the model promoted by the former ESTIA accommodation programme, the positive impact of which had been noted by local communities as well.[6] It also challenges Greece’s ability to comply with obligations arising vis-à-vis vulnerable applicants with special reception needs.[7]
In what concerns provision of material reception conditions in the form of financial aid, under the ESTIA II-CBI programme, the beneficiaries of such aid are:[8]
- Adult asylum applicants who have submitted or fully lodged an asylum application in accordance with Article 65 (1)(2) & (7) L. 4636/2019, as long as they reside in the centres and facilities provided under para. 4 Article 8 L. 4375/2016, in accommodation programmes of the MoMA, in shelters and hospitality centres operated by international organisations and legal entities governed by public law, local authorities, as well as civil society actors that are registered in the Registry of Greek and foreign NGOs of the MoMA. Applicants in detention are not entitled to the cash-based support.
- Beneficiaries of international protection who upon turning 18 reside in accommodation centres for UAM or in temporary accommodation spaces for UAM, for a period of three months following their placement to the aforementioned accommodation spaces.
In both cases, the new residency requirement as a pre-condition for receiving financial aid took effect on 1 July 2021, after first being announced through Press Releases issued by the MoMA in April and May 2021,[9] and subsequently introduced in ministerial decisions in July and September.[10] As per the new framework, financial aid is provided to those eligible at the end of each month, as long as it can be certified that they continue to reside in facilities operating under the MoMA (i.e., facilities of the reception system). Applicants who are not accommodated in these facilities need to first apply, then be referred to and lastly placed in such accommodation, before the procedure for accessing financial aid can (re)start.[11]
That being said, since April 2025, none of the people residing in the camps receives the financial allowance, following the programme’s end, and pending the issuance of a new call for proposals from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for its continuation. As a result, most asylum seekers in the camps remain unable to cater for even necessary subsistence needs.[12] With regards to distribution of the cash assistance, no data has been published by the MoMA since its last relevant update in July 2024,[13] potentially reflecting this halt in the programme’s operation.
By the end of the year, RSA reported that “since the programme for provision of the financial allowance to which asylum seekers are entitled came to a close at the end of March 2025 and was not renewed. Since then, not a single asylum seeker of the 22,622 people who lived in camps has received a single euro in financial support from the state to cover necessary daily expenses”.[14]
Notwithstanding the distribution halt during 2025 and a similar interruption for several months in 2024,[15] the nominal ammounts of cash assistance to which asylum applicants have a right in the context of material reception conditions have remained unchanged since 2021, ranging from €75 for single adults in catered accommodation, up to a €420 ceiling for a family of four or more residing in self-catered accommodation.[16] In general terms, the sum to which applicants have a right is significantly lower than what is provided under the Minimum Guaranteed Income, which following a slight increase in November 2023,[17] foresees €216 support for a single-member household that is increased by €108 for each additional adult member of the household and by €54 for each minor member, up to a €972 ceiling.
In addition to the fact that financial aid can preserve refugees’ dignity and facilitate the process of regaining an autonomous life, by allowing them to choose what they need most, throughout its operationalisation the programme has also had a significant and positive impact on local communities, as this assistance was eventually injected into the local economy, family shops and service providers. In proportion to programme’s beneficiaries, UNHCR estimated that approximately €7.4 million in cash assistance was expected to be injected into local economies only in December 2020.[18] No such data has been reported since the MoMA started issuing reports on the implementation of the financial aid programme.
[1] Article 59(1) Asylum Code.
[2] Article 62(1) Asylum Code in connection with Article 1λγ΄ Asylum Code regarding the definition of ‘vulnerable persons’ in a non-exhaustive manner.
[3] For more, AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2022 Update, June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4cc0a07, p. 147ff.
[4] Greek Council for Refugees / OXFAM / Save the Children International, Greece: A two-tier refugee system, Bi-monthly bulletin, May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OJOetv.
[5] EU Ombudsperson, Decision in strategic inquiry OI/3/2022/MHZ on how the European Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, 11 July 2022, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yckyjef3.
[6] For instance, as noted in January 2023 by the President of the Developmental Agency (Anaptyxiaki) of Irakleio, Crete, and Mayor of Archanes Asterousia, Crete, ‘[t]he framework, the rules and the whole organisation of the hospitality [under ESTIA] was exemplary and gave no room to the xenophobia that was initially expressed’. Ekriti, Crete: An end to the hospitality program for refugees, 2 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3IEwj4h.
[7] For the closure of ESTIA, see among others: RSA, A Step backwards for protection and integration: On the termination of the ESTIA II housing programme for asylum applicants, 22 December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43vr3Y5; GCR, Press Release, Εξώσεις, αστεγία και πισωγύρισμα στην ένταξη, 30 November 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3oBev2B; FENIX, Closure of ESTIA II: thousands of extremely vulnerable asylum seekers to be left without humane and adequate accommodation and proper care, 31 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43nPgzO.
[8] Article 1(d) Ministerial Decision 115202/2021, op.cit.
[9] MoMA, The financial assistance to international protection applicants that are not accommodated in facilities under the responsibility of the MoMA or MoMA partners is abolished from 1/7/21, 15 April 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3IEvEgx and Pre-requisites for the disbursement of financial assistance to international protection applicants, 25 May 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3IDe5xx.
[10] Ministerial Decision 115202/2021 op.cit and JMD 2857/2021 Amending JMD 2089/16-07-2021 on a ‘Common Framework for Managing Programmes that are assigned to the Special Secretariat for the Coordination and Management of Programmes under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security Fund and other resources and are nor financed through National Programmes’ (Β’ 3120), Gov. Gazette 4496/29-09-2021.
[11] Annex III, JMD 2089/16.7.2021 as amended by JMD 2857/29.9.2021.
[12] RSA, Reception & refugee camps in Greece in the first half of 2025, 11 September 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yp6ar5fu.
[13] For the 2024 data, see AIDA Country Report on Greece: 2024 update, available at https://tinyurl.com/4hvrxduk, pp. 181-182.
[14] RSA; Asylum procedure and reception statistics in Greece in 2025; https://tinyurl.com/392ftj58.
[15] For more see , inter alia, AIDA, Country report on Greece: 2024 update, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4hvrxduk, p. 182.
[16] Article 3 Ministerial Decision 115202/2021 on the ‘Terms of material reception conditions in the form of financial assistance to applicants for international protection’, Gov. Gazette 3322/B/26-7-2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/4dbV70A. See also: Ministerial Decision 2857/29.9.2021 regulating the cash assistance program.
[17] Article 2 (7) JMD 53923/23-7-2021, Gov. Gazette 3359/28-7-2021 as amended by JMD 97046/6.11.2023, Gov. Gazette 6456/13-11-2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4b6IFgO.
[18] UNHCR, Factsheet: Greece, 1-31 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2QVbl8I, p. 3.