by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua)-- More than 18,500 refugees have been relocated from Greece to other EU members from October 2015 to August 27, 2017, Greek national news agency AMNA reported on Friday, citing data by the Greek Asylum Service.
At least 27,378 relocation requests have been submitted by refugees to the service in this period. The 24,749 bids have already been forwarded to other European countries and 22,288 have been accepted, 1,164 have been rejected, while the rest are pending, the data showed.
Most asylum seekers have been accepted in Germany (4,175), France (3,770), the Netherlands (1,595) and Sweden (1,231), while Austria, Hungary and Poland have not accepted any application for relocation, AMNA said citing the Greek Asylum Service.
Greece has been at the forefront of the refugee crisis since early 2015. More than one million refugees and migrants have landed on the country's shores in the past two years, seeking safety and a better future in central and northern Europe.
After the closure of borders along the Balkan corridor in winter 2016, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece.
In autumn 2015, European counterparts pledged to ease the burden from Greece and Italy, but due to a series of obstacles, the targets of the relocation program have still not been met.
