The Greek Wall of Immigration Control

Civitas, 5 January 2011

In an attempt to curb its growing illegal immigration crisis, Greece has revealed plans to erect a 128 mile wall along its Turkish border. The Ministry of Public Order has stated that Greece “has reached its limits in taking in illegal immigrants”, with over 100,000 entering the country in 2010.

Once over the Greek border, EU Schengen policy means there are no border controls within the EU (except for opt-out countries like the UK). However, current EU policy puts the burden of illegal immigration on the country of entry, with member states returning immigrants to the country they used to cross into the EU. With estimates suggesting that the Greek-Turkey border is responsible for up to 90% of the EU’s illegal immigration, the pressure on Greece, and its already overcrowded immigration resources, is immense.

For this reason, a number of member states, including the UK and the Netherlands, have stopped sending migrants back to Greece, unable to cope with the scale of the backlog. However, Bill Frelick, from Human Rights Watch, has argued that cooperation amongst the member states is badly lacking: “Greece has proven itself completely incapable of handling this problem, and they’ve gotten precious little support from the EU member-states.”

In the announcement to the Athens News Agency on 31 December, Christos Papoutsis, a Greek Interior Minister and former EU Commissioner for Energy, compared the Greek plans to the 4.5 metre metal wall, which runs along 650 miles of the US-Mexico border through Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. Although the barrier – fortified by camera and radar surveillance mechanisms, as well as jeep patrols and predator drones – has since gained broad public support, construction costs reached €1.8 billion, and there were initially staunch environmental and humanitarian concerns.

For Papoutsis, building a wall is the necessary answer to the “hard reality” of the country’s immigration problems: “We are absolutely determined on this issue. Greece can’t take it anymore.” Indeed, Jacques Barrot, the former EU Justice Commissioner, has commented that the scale of the problem is such that it represents “a risk to Greek democracy”.

Although a complete timeline for construction has not yet been set, the first stage will likely be a 10 foot high, 8 mile long trial wall near Orestidada, just 2 km from the Evros bank. The stretch is a particularly weak entry point on the border; in 2010 alone, 128,000 migrants passed into Greece, of which 40,000 entered the country via the Evros border, either on inflatable boats or during the summer by foot. The border is increasingly being used by migrants from Asia and Africa, since the EU heightened surveillance at its sea borders and Spain and Italy reached repatriation agreements with African countries, although a large proportion also come from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The north-eastern town was overwhelmed by a deluge of migrants in October, just days before Frontex, the EU’s Warsaw-based border agency, deployed 175 armed border control specialists to the area. The EU Commission confirmed last month that the presence of these Rapid Intervention Border Teams (Rabit) will be extended until March, having already achieved a 44% reduction in the number of people crossing the border.

The EU Commission has criticised the wall as a “short-term” measure, which will fail to “address and manage the migratory challenges in a more consolidated and structural way”. In a statement in December, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom urged the Greek authorities, which “are benefiting from European solidarity through a package of financial and practical assistance… to put all necessary measures in place to assist the persons in need”.

Although Papoutsis has stated that the measures are “in no way against Turkey”, the wall could antagonise relations between the EU and Turkey, a long-term EU candidate country.

There is also resistance within Greece itself, from parties across the political spectrum. The national Communist Party has dismissed the “double hypocritical” policy as “barbaric”, “inhuman and ineffective”. Conversely, the rightwing Laos Party has attacked the Socialist government for failing to take decisive action sooner.

Kalliopi Stefanaki, the UNHCR protection officer for Greece, has supported Greece’s right to “enhance security at its borders in any way it sees fit”, however concern remains over the treatment of those who request protection once they have crossed the border.  Greece has long been censured by the UN and Amnesty International for the “inhuman” and “degrading” conditions in its detention centres, and the Commission has committed €9.8 million over the coming six months to improving the camps.

In May 2010, members of the eurozone, together with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), agreed a historic €110 billion bailout to rescue Greece’s ailing economy and prevent its debt crisis from spreading. Now urgent measures are also needed to help Greece develop long-term answers to the EU’s illegal immigration crisis, to avoid an endless stream of hasty short-term solutions.