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 2021,942 and subsequently introduced in ministerial decisions in July and September. 943 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.944 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.945 With regards to distribution of the cash assistance, no data has been published by the MoMA since its last relevant update in July 2024, 946 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”.947 Notwithstanding the distribution halt during 2025 and a similar interruption for several months in 2024,948 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.949 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 2023,950 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 2020.951 No such data has 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 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. 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 4496/2909-2021. Annex III, JMD 2089/16.7.2021 as amended by JMD 2857/29.9.2021. RSA, Reception & refugee camps in Greece in the first half of 2025, 11 September 2025, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yp6ar5fu. For the 2024 data, see AIDA Country Report on Greece: 2024 update, available at https://tinyurl.com/4hvrxduk, pp. 181-182. RSA; Asylum procedure and reception statistics in Greece in 2025; https://tinyurl.com/392ftj58. For more see , inter alia, AIDA, Country report on Greece: 2024 update, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4hvrxduk, p. 182. 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. 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. UNHCR, Factsheet: Greece, 1-31 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2QVbl8I, p. 3. 199