The law provides that lawyers and other counsellors shall have the right to represent the asylum seekers at all stages of the asylum procedure. The lawyer representing the asylum seeker or the counsellor assisting may be present during the personal interview together with the asylum seeker. The absence of a lawyer or a counsellor shall not prevent the personal interview from taking place. According to the law, legal aid is provided only for lodging an Appeal and representing the case before the Administrative Court of Appeal (see chapter Appeal). Legal aid is provided upon the applicant’s request and two criteria must be fulfilled: (a) the application must be founded and (b) the applicant’s financial inability to pay for legal services must be established. The counsellor’s choice is made 32 according to a list created by the relevant Bar Association. There are a number of obstacles in having access to free legal aid. In order for the request to legal aid to be examined, the asylum seeker must submit an application to the court signed by a lawyer, so s/he must pay one for this service or find a lawyer that will work on this pro bono. In addition, there is no choice of lawyer, as the available ones are only those designated in the lists of the Bar Associations. Furthermore, the low remuneration accorded to lawyers in asylum cases under legal aid results in only a very small number of lawyers willing to take up such cases. This creates a shortage in the availability but also the quality of legal aid services. In practice free legal assistance and representation is provided by NGOs through European Refugee Fund (ERF) funding which is limited vis-à-vis the number and the needs of asylum seekers. Although the Greek Government alleges that it provides sufficient free legal aid through ERF-funding, the th previous funding ended in April 30 2013 and an announcement on the launching of the new call for th ERF funding took place on the 4 June 2013. Although the new funding will cover the gap retrospectively, nevertheless, during this period NGO funding has been suspended and uncertainty over when and whether the new Call for Proposals would take place resulted in the suspension of legal aid. 3. Dublin Indicators: - Number of outgoing requests in the previous year: 673 Number of incoming requests in the previous year: 617 Number of outgoing transfers carried out effectively in the previous year: 244 Number of incoming transfers carried out effectively in the previous year: 175 (all numbers are valid for the first 11 months of 2012. ) Procedure Indicator: - If another EU Member State accepts responsibility for the asylum applicant, how long does it take in practice (on average) before the applicant is transferred to the responsible Member State? Not available EURODAC is being rigorously applied in Greece. The cases of transferring back asylum seekers from another Member State to Greece are extremely rare because all EU Member States have stopped 33 Dublin transfers to Greece as a result of the M.S.S. v. Greece and Belgium case. However, in case a Dublin return occurs, the asylum application takes place in the airport where they are kept in detention. 32 33 Law No. 3226/2004. European Court of Human Rights, M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, Application No. 30696/09, Judgment of 21 January 2011. 23