Research Institute for European and American Studies
Newsletter on Immigration to Greece
Editor: Ioannis Kolovos
Greece's Refugee Crisis and Europe's Failure
A New York Times editorial on Greece's illegal immigration and refugee crisis
The editorial (6/8/2015) can be read in full here (in English)
Can the government get anything right? (I)
Due to government's slow reflexes Greece cannot yet make use of 500 million euros available from the European Commission for the management of immigration flows.
The relevant article (Kathimerini, 6/8/2015) can be read here (in Greek only)
Can the government get anything right? (II)
The Greek government has still not resolved the issue of funding of the voluntary repatriations programme (reported in April's Newsletter) and the local IOM branch has resorted to requesting funds from European Embassies in Athens!
The relevant article (Kathimerini, 7/8/2015) can be read here (in Greek only)
Record Number of Migrants Enter Greece in July
Frontex notes that "A record number of 49,550 migrants have arrived in the European Union through the Greek borders in July, surpassing in a single month the number of migrants detected in the region in the entire 2014".
The Frontex news-item can be read in full here (in English)
RIEAS organized its 2nd Executive Security Training Seminar
The Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) organized on 16-17 July 2015 the 2nd Executive Security Training Seminar titled: "Mediterranean and North Africa Intelligence: Contemporary Maritime Security Threats". The seminar included a presentation by Ioannis Kolovos titled "How NOT to Combat Illegal Immigration: Greece's Immigration Policy".
The Seminar's proceedings can be read in full here (in English)
Illegal immigration is more serious an issue than the country's finances!
The deputy Minister for Citizens' Protection Mr Yiannis Panoussis stated in an interview that illegal immigration constitutes a greater problem than the country's financial difficulties as it is an issue of national security and social cohesion!
Mr Panoussis' inrterview (Kathimerini, 9/8/2015) can be read in full here (in Greek only)
Illegal immigrant inflow in 2015 could be the highest of the last 20 years!
According to Hellenic Police data for the first seven months of 2015 the arrests for illegal entry and/or illegal stay reached 156,726, almost five times as many as in the same period of 2014 (32,070 arrests). If this trend continues for the rest of the year then the inflow of illegal immigrants to Greece will be the highest since the mid-90s!!
The relevant Hellenic Police data can be found here (in Greek only)
Turkish migrant smugglers give forged Syrian passports to illegal immigrants
Frontex's Executive Director Mr Fabrice Leggeri pointed out that Turkish migrant smugglers give forged Syrian passports to illegal immigrants who then cross the border to Greece.
The relevant article (Kathimerini, 23/8/2015) can be read here (in Greek only)
The government gets its lowest mark on the issue of immigration
According to an opinion poll conducted by the University of Macedonia, on a scale from 1 to 10, the new government gets its lowest mark – a "2.4" – on the handling of the immigration issue. In a similar poll conducted in April the government had gotten a "3" on the same issue. It should also be noted that 43.5% of Greeks give the government a "0" (zero) mark for the way it has handled the immigrant inflow!
The relevant article (Kathimerini, 30/8/2015) can be read here (in Greek only)