Greek PM promises permanent migrant centre after fire on Lesbos

Greece will build a permanent migrant reception centre on Lesbos to replace the overcrowded refugee camp destroyed by a fire last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said yesterday, calling for closer European involvement.

The fire at the Moria reception centre last week left more than 12,000 people without shelter, forcing most to sleep out in the open without proper sanitation or access to food and water, and pushed the migration issue back up the European agenda.

Mitsotakis said the construction of a new reception centre on the island to replace the notoriously squalid and overcrowded Moria facility would be the chance to reset the policy behind handling migrant arrivals.

"We want to turn this problem into an opportunity," he said. "Europe should be a lot more involved in the management of the new centre wherever we finally decide it should be," he told a news conference.

He appeared to dismiss protests by Lesbos residents who have opposed the creation of a new centre as well as by migrants demanding to be resettled away from the island.