The law also foresees that the provision of all or part of the material reception conditions presupposes that asylum seekers lack employment or that their employment does not provide them with sufficient resources to maintain an adequate standard of living that is sufficient to safeguard their health and sustenance.661 The latter is examined in proportion to the financial criteria determining eligibility for the Social Solidarity Benefit (Κοινωνικό Επίδομα Αλληλεγγύης, KEA),662 which was renamed to Minimum Guaranteed Income (Ελάχιστο Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα) in 2020.663 The law also provides that reception conditions can be reduced or withdrawn following an individual and justified decision by the competent reception authority, based on the full set of grounds provided under article 20 of the (recast) Reception Directive, including if it is established that the applicant concealed their financial means or if they have lodged a subsequent asylum application. 664 2. Forms and levels of material reception conditions Indicators: Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions 1. Amount of the monthly financial allowance/vouchers granted to asylum seekers as of 31 December 2022 (in original currency and in €): € 150 (€ 75 if accommodation is catered) Material reception conditions may be provided in kind or in the form of financial allowances.665 According to Article 60(1) of the Asylum Code, where housing is provided in kind, it should take one or a combination of the following forms: (a) Premises used for the purpose of housing applicants during the examination of an application for international protection made at the border or in transit zones; (b) Accommodation centres, which can operate in properly customised public or private buildings, under the management of public or private non-profit entities or international organisations and guarantee a suitable standard of living; (c) Private houses, flats and hotels, rented for the purposes of accommodation programmes implemented by public or private non-profit entities or international organisations. In all cases, the provision of housing is under the supervision of the competent reception authority, in collaboration, where appropriate, with other competent state bodies. The law provides that the specific situation of vulnerable persons, such as minors (accompanied and unaccompanied), people with disabilities, elderly people, single-parent households and pregnant women, should be taken into account in the provision of reception conditions. 666 In practice, a variety of accommodation schemes remained in place as of the end of 2022. These included mainly large-scale camps, initially designed as emergency accommodation facilities on the mainland, Closed Control Access Centres (CCACs) operated –under EU funding– on the Eastern Aegean islands, where asylum seekers are contained in prison-like conditions,667 and to a significantly lesser degree apartments and NGO-run facilities (see Types of Accommodation). The end of 2022 marked the termination of the “Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation” (ESTIA) programme for vulnerable asylum seekers. The positive impact of this accommodation scheme on local communities has been recognised by the municipalities that hosted it. For instance, as noted in January 2023 by the President of the Developmental Agency (Anaptyxiaki) of Irakleio, Crete, and Mayor of Archanes Asterousia, Crete while commenting on the termination of ESTIA, ‘[t]he framework, the rules and the whole organisation of the hospitality [under ESTIA] was exemplary and gave no room to the xenophobia that was initially expressed’.668 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 Article 59(3) Asylum Code. Article 235 L 4389/2016. Article 29 L. 4659/2020. Article 61 Asylum Code. Article 59(1) Asylum Code. Article 62(1) Asylum Code in connection with article 1λγ΄ Asylum Code regarding the definition of ‘vulnerable persons’ in a non-exhaustive manner. Greek Council for Refugees / OXFAM / Save the Children International, Greece: A two-tier refugee system, Bi-monthly bulletin, May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OJOetv. Ekriti, ‘Crete: An end to the hospitality program for refugees’, 2 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3IEwj4h. 147