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ATHENS, April 12-- The European Union (EU) will continue supporting Greece, Italy and other countries which are at the forefront of the refugee challenge, visiting EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Thursday. "The challenges that Greece is confronted with are our common EU challenges. The Commission stands ready to continue supporting Greece... The EU must continue to show solidarity both to Greece and Italy," he said during a visit at the refugee camp of Ritsona, about 86 km north of Athens. The camp, created two years ago at the peak of the refugee crisis and currently hosting about 650 refugees, is considered as a model reception facility where families are no longer housed in tents but prefabricated houses. "We are not where we were three years ago. The situation has changed. Much progress has been achieved but it is not time to slow down," Avramopoulos said during statements broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT. Over one million refugees and migrants reached Greece from Turkish shores since 2017 to escape warzones and extreme poverty. More than 60,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since the closure of the borders along the Balkan route to central Europe in February 2016 and the launch of the EU-Turkey agreement aimed to stem the flows via the Aegean Sea. Living conditions at the dozens of camps and other facilities across Greece have improved, according to local authorities and EU officials, but challenges remain in the hotspots of the Northern Aegean Sea islands which still receive dozens of new arrivals each day. | 
