The Ministry of Migration & Asylum had surprisingly announced in February 2022 that the programme would be terminated by the end of the year, by quoting the ‘improved management of Migration’.669 At the time, no information was provided on what would happen with the programme’s beneficiaries or if any provisions would be in place to address the needs of vulnerable asylum seekers. From 16 April ESTIA’s accommodation places were decreased to 10,000, less than half than those available in 2021 (27,000) and the programme was officially terminated at the end of the year. Its termination undermines the legal obligation of the State to provide specific support for the special reception needs of vulnerable persons throughout the asylum procedure. 670 It also marks the complete transformation of the Greek Reception system into a system of social isolation of those seeking international protection in Greece, including of those most vulnerable among them.671 This is despite the reported willingness of the European Commission to continue the programme’s funding in the context of supporting alternative modes of accommodation to camps.672 Up to the end of September 2021, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and METAdrasi, also continued to provide cash assistance in Greece, in the context of the “ESTIA II-CBI” programme, financed through AMIF with the aim to partly cover material reception conditions by addressing beneficiaries’ basic needs (e.g. clothing, medication).673 The cash card assistance programme is being implemented throughout Greece. As of October 2021, the programme was fully handed over to the Greek state, 674 and has since been implemented under the MoMA. A serious gap in the distribution of the assistance was identified as part of this transition, which remained unresolved until December 2021. In January 2022, overdue payments for October and November 2021 were made. However, significant numbers of eligible asylum seekers ended up not receiving cash, or backdated payments, as a result of changes in their legal status.675 Disbursements resumed at the beginning of March 2022. 676 Under the ESTIA II-CBI programme, the beneficiaries of the cash-based assistance are:677 ❖ Adult asylum seekers who have submitted or fully lodged an asylum application in accordance with article 65 (1)(2)&(7) L. 4636/2019, as long as they reside in the centres and facilities provided under para. 4 article 8 L. 4375/2016, in accommodation programmes of the MoMA, in shelters and hospitality centres operated by international organisations and legal entities governed by public law, local authorities, as well as civil society actors that are registered in the Registry of 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 ΜοΜΑ, ‘The ‘ESTA II’ housing programme to be completed in 2022’, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3AqGd4k. For the closure of ESTIA, see among others: RSA, A Step backwards for protection and integration: On the termination of the ESTIA II housing programme for asylum applicants, 22 December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43vr3Y5, GCR, Press Release, «Εξώσεις, αστεγία και πισωγύρισμα στην ένταξη», 30 November 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3oBev2B; FENIX, Closure of ESTIA II: thousands of extremely vulnerable asylum seekers to be left without humane and adequate accommodation and proper care, 31 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43nPgzO. See among others: Greek Council for Refugees, Press release: Εξώσεις, αστεγία και πισωγύρισμα στην ένταξη, 30 November 2022, available in Greek: https://bit.ly/43JHgsN. See also: FENIX, ‘Closure of ESTIA II: A Political choice behind its closure’, 6 December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3N3jJhb. Fenix, ‘Closure of ESTIA II: a political choice behind its closure’, December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3VbYagQ. Ministerial Decision 115202/2021 on the Terms of provision of material reception conditions in the form of financial assistance to applicants for international protection, Gov. Gazette 3322/Β/26-7-2021. See also: Article 4 of Ministerial Decision 2857/29.9.2021 that adds Annexe III to JDM 2089/16.7.2021 regarding the provision of cash assistance as material reception condition to international protection applicants. MoMA, ‘The MoMA undertakes the provision of financial assistance to asylum applicants as of 1 October 2021’, available at: https://bit.ly/3HygEiT. GCR/Save the Children, Greece: Children on the move, January-March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OJ66Vm, 5. For more, inter alia, Joint advocacy letter by 14 NGOs in Greece, ‘NGOs welcome the resumption of cash assistance for asylum seekers in Greece, call for gaps to be urgently filled’, 8 March 2022, https://bit.ly/3WKzHQw; Joint Statement by 26 NGOs in Greece, ‘Are you eligible to eat?’, 18 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3ipbE6a; GCR/Save the Children, Greece: Children on the move, January-March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OJ66Vm, 5. Article 1(d) Ministerial Decision 115202/2021, op.cit. 148