Copyright: www.rieas.gr
Illegal immigration is one of the most complex problems of our times. Greece is feeling its impact keenly. A country of practically zero immigration only a few years ago, Greece presently finds herself under a deluge of undocumented arrivals. Illegal immigrants arrive from all directions, save the west. Across the Aegean, waves of Asian and African economic migrants, using Turkey as springboard, are putting an unbearable strain on Greek islands. From the north, Albanians continue to pour across a porous border.
It is estimated that Greece, with a total population of 10.7 million, is now host to 1.5 million mostly illegal immigrants – in other words, 14 percent of the people in Greece does not have a legal claim to abode. In comparison, France, with a population of 63 million, is dealing with less than half a million illegal immigrants, mostly from its former African colonies. Such disparities highlight the exploding illegal immigration crisis faced by Greece.
Greek governments have been overwhelmed. Illegal immigration is putting a strain on already stretched resources at a time of serious economic troubles. Social, law and order, and economic problems loom. Athens already claims the unenviable record of having a teeming illegal immigrant ghetto in its very heart. Ghetto residents have taken to organizing rival gangs to control turf. Violent armed clashes have ensued in broad daylight, only blocks away from the Greek Parliament. In Patras, Greece’s largest getaway port to Italy, packs of illegal immigrants, roaming the harbor in the hope of clandestinely boarding ferries bound for Italy, have clashed with each other spreading fear and panic among Patras residents and seafront business owners.
The situation is further complicated by outside pressures on Greece to accommodate illegal immigrants as primarily victims of “human rights abuses” in their countries of origin. While protection of human rights is a legitimate target, meeting its requirements, according to criteria mostly set in sanitized academic and higher level policy environments, can be a delicate, and often not very successful, exercise. Dealing with illegal immigration poses enormous economic, social, and security challenges which no country, however powerful, seems to be meeting with verifiable and observed success based on “rule books” not addressing the real effects of the phenomenon and, most importantly, finding the resources to deal with the problem.
RIEAS, in its commitment to focusing on key strategic questions affecting Greece and its international relations, has decided to launch this resource dedicated exclusively to illegal immigration. Our approach is “global” rather than focused on narrower questions, like “black” labor in the Greek market or human rights abuses. We believe –- and this is a key premise -- that illegal immigration poses a potentially serious security risk in the absence of massive economic abilities to assuage (not solve) the problem.
The uncontrolled flow of illegal immigrants into Greece has emerged as the primary strategic challenge this country faces in a regional environment that remains unsettled. Greek policymakers need to address this challenge urgently –- not with rushed plans to legalize all comers and not with words flying without deeds. Greece must begin a concerted effort to promote collective EU immigration rules, bring EU resources to bear on the defense of its borders, and impress upon conduit countries, like Turkey, that pushing illegal immigrants into Greece will be treated not in a “spirit of negotiation.”
These measures are the minimum necessary to address the crisis. Continuing inaction will only bring more complications to an already impossible situation. Greece cannot afford to bury her head in the sand much longer.