Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor)
Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 24 January 2016
Way before it was fashionable for the sensationalist media, not to mention the arcane, isolated mandarins in Brussels, to focus on illegal, overwhelmingly Moslem, immigration as the security threat of the future, we put it thus in October 2008:
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."...Read more