Agreement signed between the European Commission and UNHCR in December 2015, 752 the project was continued and UNHCR committed to gradually establishing 20,000 places in open accommodation, funded by the European Commission and primarily dedicated to applicants for international protection eligible for relocation. In July 2017, as announced by the European Commission, the accommodation scheme was included in the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation (ESTIA) programme funded by DG ECHO, aiming to provide urban accommodation and cash assistance to a maximum of 30,000 applicants by the end of 2017. The European Commission provided assurances that funding for the accommodation programme of asylum seekers in apartments would continue in 2019.753 The takeover of activities by AMIF, managed by DG HOME, was confirmed in February 2019. 754 A year and a half later, in July 2020, the Commission’s commitment to the continuation and expansion of the programme was re-affirmed by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, during the ceremonial tripartite agreement between the EC, UNHCR and the Ministry, for the gradual handover of the renewed ESTIA II programme to the Greek state. A total of €91.5 million (AMIF funds) were approved for the programme’s continuation in 2020, with the Ministry stating that its aim would be to increase the programme’s available accommodation places from 25,000 to 40,000 by 2021. 755 As noted by the then UNHCR representative in Greece, ‘[e]nsuring the viability, efficiency and quality of this exemplary programme, should be our common goal, as it has proven to enable a successful ‘living together’ between refugees and local communities across Greece’.756 In November 2020, another € 91.5 million was approved for the programme’s continuation in 2021.757 Yet despite the MoMA’s previously stated aims, between December 2021-February 2022 the number of accommodation places under the ESTIA II programme was significantly reduced to 16,875. 758 This was followed by a sudden announcement in February 2022 that by mid-April the programme’s capacity would be further reduced to 10,000 places and that the programme would be terminated by the end of the year.759 Though reasons may vary for this inconsistency, it is important to note that had the programme reached the initially stated capacity of 40,000 places, it could have provided a significantly improved alternative to camps for all registered new arrivals for both 2021 (9,157) and 2022 (18,780) 760. Instead, the Greek government’s decision to terminate ESTIA, in spite of available alternatives, amounts to the consolidation of a camp-based approach to reception, where applicants’ access to some of their rights (material reception conditions) is subject to their isolation from society, where other rights, such as access to healthcare or education, cannot be effectively fulfilled. The decision to terminate ESTIA also hinders integration prospects and ultimately delays the integration process for those granted international protection in Greece, given that, as inter alia noted by the Commission, ‘[i]ntegration happens in every village, city and region where migrants live, work and go to 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 European Commission, ‘European Commission and UNHCR launch scheme to provide 20,000 reception places for asylum seekers in Greece’, IP/15/6316, 14 December 2015, available at: https://bit.ly/433cbQZ. UNHCR, ‘Interview with UNHCR Representative in Greece on housing programme for asylum-seekers’, 19 February 2018, available at: http://bit.ly/2sJf6lh. European Commissoin, ‘Greece – End of activation of the Emergency Support Instrument (DG ECHO)’, 13 February 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2Sll5UV. MoMA, ‘European funding of 92 mil. Has been approved and a contract has been signed for the ESTIA II2020 Programme’ (‘Εγκρίθηκε η Ευρωπαϊκή Χρηματοδότηση ύψους 92 εκ και υπεγράφη σύμβαση για το Πρόγραμμα ESTIA II-2020’), 15 July 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3gG3B5c. UNHCR, ‘Towards ESTIA II: UNHCR welcomes Greece’s commitment to ensure the continuation of flagship reception programme for asylum-seekers’, 15 July 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3vpoRk6. MoMA, ‘The ESTIA programme continues in 2021 with full European funding’ (‘Συνεχίζεται το 2021 το πρόγραμμα ΕΣΤΙΑ, με πλήρη Ευρωπαϊκή Χρηματοδότηση’), 30 November 2020, available in Greece at: https://bit.ly/3tWxPow. MoMA, ΕSΤΙΑ 2021 Factsheet December 2021 – January/February 2022, 28 February 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3JQFwEt. MoMA, ‘Th e accommodation programme ESTIA II to be concluded (‘ολοκληρώνεται’) in 2022’, 22 February 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/35m5UXW. Data on arrivals retrieved from UNHCR’s operational data portal for Greece at: https://bit.ly/3WubNsb. 162