Since the start of the biggest displacement crisis in the post-war era, with millions of refugees from war-torn regions in the Middle East but also economic migrants from north and west Africa trying to reach Europe to start new lives, the heaviest flows are arriving on Europe’s frontline states such as Greece and Italy. These two countries bear disproportionate responsibility for receiving new arrivals, although the aim of both refugees and migrants is to move on to the core of the continent.
Close to a million refugees and migrants, in 2015 alone, reached Greece from Turkey, creating an unprecedented crisis for a country already immersed in a deep economic crisis and with collapsing social services. Even so, according to international law, Greece has an obligation to act in a humane way towards refugees, and all its actions so far, which include rescuing thousands of desperate souls from drowning in the Aegean sea, indicate that its authorities have done exactly that.
Nonetheless, according to countries like Austria, Greece has failed to patrol its borders and has become a convenient scapegoat for the refugee and migrant crisis.
The reason for the blame game against Greece by countries like Austria is because Athens did not do what many other Balkans states have done, which is to erect border fences against refugees.
Erecting fences to keep refugees and migrants from reaching the core of Europe is neither morally acceptable nor a practical solution. As long as nations like Syria, Libya, and Iraq continue to be converted into black holes by western policies, waves of refugees will continue arriving on Europe’s shores.
Indeed, Europe’s refugee crisis has revealed the deficiencies of the European integration project but also the absence of any migration policy or strategy both at a European and national level.
Now, overwhelmed by the number of refugees that most European societies do not want to have to deal with, the borders at the north of Greece are gradually shutting down, as only refugees from Syria and Iraq are allowed to go through, while thousands of Afghans find themselves stranded and unable to move on.
The strategy of sealing off the Balkan route was agreed the other day at the Vienna meeting between Austria and 9 Balkan states. It is a strategy that goes against the conclusions of the European Council summit of February 18-19, 2015 and confirms what many analysts have been saying all along about today’s European Union, namely, that the continent is divided and that the integration project of the past half century is on the verge of collapse.
At this point, EU leaders are pinning their hopes for an effective management of the refugee crisis on the willingness of Turkey to stop the influx of refugees and migrants into Europe, but one would have to be naïve to believe that Turkey would have an interest in keeping inside its own borders millions of stranded Syrian refugees.
In the meantime, Greece would soon be converted into a huge refugee camp, a development which may have extremely undesirable social, political, and even economic consequences.
The presence of so many refugees in a country the size of Greece may give additional ammunition to extreme political organizations like Golden Dawn, thereby creating political instability at a time when Greece is trying to overcome severe financial and economic problems, but could also have a catastrophic impact on the tourist sector as it may force millions of European tourists to stay away from the Greek islands this coming summer.
Greece is truly caught between a rock and a hard place. It cannot stop the influx of more refugees and migrants on its shores without Turkey’s collaboration, and it surely cannot turn its back on desperate souls in need of protection.
Be that as it may, the government must consider actions it needs to take in order to protect the country’s national interest.
It should demand the re-opening of the Balkan route or refuse to abide by EU agreements on the refugee crisis. It must also demand massive financial assistance and compensation for losses incurred during the summer season.
In the meantime, one can only hope that Europe becomes active in resolving the crises in Syria, Libya, and Iraq and that it considers measures to restructure those economies and societies so their citizens won’t find the need to risk their lives in order to get to Europe for a safer future. There are very few other options left.
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