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 aid.870 With regards to the first, according to Article 60(1) of the Asylum Code, where accommodation is provided in kind, it should take one or a combination of the following forms: (a) Premises used for the purpose of accommodating 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 in the context of accommodation programmes implemented by public or private non-profit entities or international organisations. In all cases, the provision of accommodation is under the supervision of the competent reception authority, in collaboration, where applicable, 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.871 In practice, following the termination of the ESTIA accommodation programme in December 2022,872 camp-based accommodation has become the only available accommodation provided under the Greek reception system. As of the end of 2023, facilities used for this purposes included mainly temporary accommodation camps, initially designed as emergency accommodation facilities, and RICs in Evros, Malakasa and Diavata, on the mainland, as well as Closed Control Access Centres (CCACs) operating –under EU funding– on the Eastern Aegean islands, where asylum seekers have continued being contained in prison-like conditions.873 The “detention-like nature” of island facilities was also noted by the EU Ombudsperson in the context of an own-initiative inquiry regarding the use of EU funds in the CCACs.874 To be noted, this new camp-based model of reception, which inter alia fosters conditions of social isolation for applicants, stands in stark contrast to the model promoted by the former ESTIA accommodation programme, which positive impact had been noted by local communities as well.875 It also challenges Greece’s ability to comply with obligations arising vis-à-vis vulnerable applicants with special reception 870 871 872 873 874 875 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. For more, AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2022 Update, June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4cc0a07, p. 147ff. 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. EU Ombudsperson, Decision in strategic inquiry OI/3/2022/MHZ on how the European Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, 11 July 2022, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yckyjef3. For instance, as noted in January 2023 by the President of the Developmental Agency (Anaptyxiaki) of Irakleio, Crete, and Mayor of Archanes Asterousia, Crete, ‘[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’. Ekriti, Crete: An end to the hospitality program for refugees, 2 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3IEwj4h. 178