E.U. funds more refugee centres on new eastern frontier

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 20, 2004, Tuesday

Warsaw — The European Union will spend 17 million euros on six
new centres for refugees along Poland’s eastern border, destined
to be the E.U.’s new eastern frontier after May 1, PAP news agency
reported Tuesday.

Poland currently has 12 refugee centres able to host 2,500 people,
mostly near the western border with Germany.

The new centres will be built over the next two years in the eastern
Polish border cities of Przemysl, Biala Podlaska, Bialystok, and
Ketrzyn. Four of the centres will be closed, detention compounds
designed to hold illegal migrants.

Some Polish politicians worry Poland’s May 1 E.U. entry will draw
waves of asylum seekers to its eastern border.

But immigration officials point out Poland is still a transit rather
than a target country for migrants, with most heading for Germany,
France and Belgium.

In 2003, almost 7,000 people applied for refugee status in Poland,
twice as many as five years ago. Some 219 people were declared refugees
and granted the right to reside in Poland.

Chechens, Afghans, Indians, Palestinians, Armenians and Ukrainians
were the most numerous applicants. dpa sib pb sc

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress