Another flight from Greece brings total number of refugees admitted by Germany to 1,799
press release 24 February 2021
This morning, 122 refugees landed in Hanover: 25 families comprising 53 adults and 69 minors whom the Greek government has already recognised as being entitled to protection.
This brings the total number of refugees admitted from Greece since April 2020 to 1,799.
The 25 families will be admitted by the federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Thuringia. .
Following agreement within the Federal Government and a decision by the coalition committee at its meeting on 8 March 2020, Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer decided at that time to admit 244 children needing medical care and their immediate families as well as 53 unaccompanied minors from Greece, as part of a European aid effort. The operation to bring these children and their families to Germany has now been largely brought to a close.
In addition to the 243 children in need of medical care and their families, the Federal Government agreed to admit two more groups of refugees.
- after the fires at the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Germany admitted 150 unaccompanied minors from the camp who were in need of shelter.
- in addition to these unaccompanied minors, Germany decided to admit a further 1,553 family members from the Greek islands whom the Greek government had already found to be entitled to protection.
The refugees are being relocated to the various federal states based on a plan developed by the Federal Government together with the governments of all 16 federal states. This plan also takes into account criteria such as family ties and specific medical needs.