Border-Free Market
Civitas, 11 May 2011
Having trawled through 70,000 pages of police intelligence, Europol has published a report examining serious organised crime within the EU. Although the paper is ostensibly a study of European law enforcement rather than an advisory document, its findings will inevitably have significant ramifications for member states’ immigration strategies, which policy makers would be unwise to ignore.
The report identifies five ‘hubs’ of concentrated criminal activity within the EU, of which the ‘South East’ (Bulgaria, Romania and Greece) comes under the most scathing criticism. Given the “significant increase in illegal immigration via Greece”, as well as “increased trafficking via the Black Sea”, this region “has seen the greatest expansion [in crime] in recent years”. In addition, “[t]hese developments have contributed to the formation of a Balkan axis for trafficking to the EU”, running between the Western Balkans and South East Europe, and new transit hubs are appearing in other member states such as Hungary, where Balkan and Black Sea routes converge.
In light of these findings, three areas of EU immigration policy have come under particular scrutiny. Firstly, in relation to illegal immigration, the report concludes that “[t]he South East criminal hub is…under the heaviest pressure”, and “the hub’s centre of gravity for this criminal problem is currently Greece”. Illicit entry across the Turkish-Greek border increased by more than 500% between 2009 and 2010, with the “comparative ease with which entry visas may be obtained” in Turkey being cited as a key factor. Although this porous barrier has long been a hot-spot for those seeking illicit entry into the border-free Schengen zone, the report brands Turkey as “the main nexus point for illegal immigrants on their way to Europe”, suggesting that recent efforts have done little to curb the crisis.
Secondly, the study will inevitably impact Bulgaria and Romania’s bid to join the ranks of the 25 Schengen states. The report stops short of opposing their anticipated accession outright, however asserts unequivocally that the move “may yield increased illicit traffic through these countries and the possible displacement of illegal immigration flows from the Turkish-Greek border”, as well as creating “potential new opportunities for organised crime”. Albanian speaking, Turkish and former Soviet Union groups are expected to be the most likely to exploit this enlarged, passport-free zone.
Finally, the report names the Ukrainian port of Odessa as the centre point of a major Black Sea route used by cocaine and heroin traffickers, and gangs from Ukraine were found to be key players in Europe’s €10 billion black market in cigarettes. The country unilaterally dropped visa requirements for EU citizens six years ago and, in 2010, the European Commission set out an Action Plan of reforms to lead to visa-free travel. However, the report warns that this “regime for Ukraine may itself facilitate trafficking via the Black Sea route”.
Ukraine has been quick to rebut the claims, with its EU ambassador, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, dismissing the report as “not acceptable”. Though not an EU member state, the country has urged Europol “to revise its statements”, yet has been unable to deny its extensive problem with organised crime.
Despite the obvious implications for EU immigration policy, Europol director Rob Wainwright has refrained from making substantive policy proposals. “We carry out an objective report without political influence,” he stated, “It’s for policymakers to judge how to react.” Once EU interior ministers receive an official copy of the study next month, it will be up to them to adjust current priorities. It must be hoped that they do not allow political wrangling to overshadow such an overwhelming body of intelligence.