There was a palpable sense of injustice/bewilderment as to why some groups were automatically detained for 3 moths (Iraqis, Palestinians and other Arabic speakers) while other groups for 15 days only (Afghanis, Somalis and Eritreans). Most of the detainees the delegation has spoken with identified themselves as Iraqis, Afghanis or Palestinians, but stated that the authorities, upon reception, arbitrarily listed them as 'Lebanese'. The authorities, on their part, claimed that most detainees appeared with no identification documents and simply asserted that they came from countries from which they assumed that would be treated better. One way or another, the authorities appeared to have no standard reliable procedure in place to attempt to determine the origin of undocumented aliens (e.g. through the use of specialised interpreters). There were numerous complaints of not having access to a lawyer and an interpreter as well as of not having received a paper explaining why one is detained. Leaving the centre, all delegation members felt that the centre should have been closed years ago. The problems and challenges stemming from the influx of migrants are perfectly understood and recognised by the delegation. However, these inhuman circumstances can never be justified for whatever reason, and represent a complete disregard for the obligations established by the Reception and Procedures directives (2003/9/EC and 2005/85/EC). 5. Meeting with authorities and NGO’s/IO’s on Samos (14.06.2007) Over the past 10 years the influx of migrants has increased significantly and the number of people coming through Turkey has tripled. Many of these people do not want to stay in Greece but to continue on to one of the other EU Member States. All authorities present acknowledged that the conditions in the old centre are just awful and that the new centre must be up and running as soon as possible (start of operation foreseen by August 2007) with sufficient staffing. Although the reception of asylum seekers and migrants is primarily and ultimately the responsibility of the national and European authorities, in reality the local authorities are trying to cope with the problems on the ground. They expressed their, perfectly legitimate, wishes for a clear and integrated European policy in order to tackle the 'push' factors that lead people to leave their countries in the first place. In reply to questions as to why it has lasted so long to finally build a new centre, it was explained that, after great efforts, the national government gave its green light to search for land and premises in 2005 only. The prefect also stated that earlier attempts to fund a new centre had failed due to the lack of cooperation of the previous prefect and a general wrangling over appropriate allocation of local and government responsibilities for running and staffing the centre. A lack of knowledge on how to build a reception centre as well as the required joint efforts of the two ministries involved, caused a further delay. The lack of any EU funding was definitely a contributing factor. The refugees and/or irregular immigrants will be moved to the new centre as soon as the construction works are finalised and sufficient staffing is present. For the transition period local authorities tried to find hotels and/or other places for temporary residence but local society was (and the hotel owners in particular) not very willing to cooperate as tourism is their most important source of income. Some NGO’s feel this is just an excuse. It has to be said that on other islands (Leros, Patmos, Kalymnos and even Kos) hotels to rent have been found. PE 392.010v02-00 EN 6/16 PV\675423EN.doc