Greece’s asylum service said in an announcement that present staffing levels made it “objectively difficult to serve all applicants,” in spite of making every possible effort to reduce waiting times. The announcement was issued in response to a protest rally by asylum seekers, mostly Syrian nationals, outside the asylum service against the delays in the processing of asylum applications. The service underlined that every effort is being made to assist applicants by strict order of priority that cannot not be circumvented and warned that the escalating protests pose a significant threat to people’s safety and further increase the long delays. It noted that Greece has asked for emergency assistance and funding from the European Commission in order to upgrade its asylum service. According to volunteers, the service is currently able to serve just a handful of people each day and simply submitting an application for asylum can take as long as two months. (source: ana-mpa)
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