Anna KARAMANOU

President of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE OF GREECE

IMMIGRATION – ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS

Athens, February 27-28, 2003

“Contemporary Migration Experiences”

The history of receiving immigrants in Greece and the experience in managing this phenomenon is very recent. Only during the last decade of the 20^th century, coinciding with the end of the Cold War and the rapid development of our country, did Greece transform from a country of emigration into a destination and paradise of dreams for thousands of desperate people arriving daily, usually illegally, by land, air, and sea. This is somewhat reminiscent of our own people a few decades ago, when they massively supported the labor markets of Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia, to name a few of the main destination countries for Greek emigrants. The only difference with today’s visitors is that they come uninvited and, lacking a legal route, cross the borders secretly. Many of them may be paying us back for the visit they owed us long ago, when many of our current European partners, also uninvited, were establishing colonies in their own countries.

It is a fact that the policy of zero immigration and repression that Europe has followed over the past thirty years has not prevented those seeking a place in the sun from finding various ways to breach borders. The only thing it has managed to do is drive up the fees and profits of traffickers and those who have seized the opportunity to trade in human suffering. Unfortunately, we have not yet fully understood that no police measure and no fortress Europe will halt the flows of migrants as long as the gap in prosperity between developed and developing countries remains and increases. Globalization ultimately cannot be limited to the free movement of capital and not of people.

Of course, the problems of development and the unequal distribution of the planet’s resources will not be solved through immigration. Sustainable solutions must be sought in eliminating the causes that create waves of migrants and refugees, improving living standards and employment opportunities, establishing democracy in countries of origin, preventing military conflicts, and respecting fundamental freedoms and human rights. Without a doubt, one of the causes of immigration is also European protective policies, primarily in the agricultural sector, which make life difficult in developing countries. These people see no hope for economic development in their own countries, as their products are kept artificially out of major markets. It is therefore natural for them to leave.

In Tampere, Finland, in 1999, European governments committed to advancing a common policy on asylum and migration, in accordance with the mandate of the Amsterdam Treaty, which set a five-year deadline from the start of the Treaty’s implementation (May 1999). Unfortunately, the progress made so far has been very limited, due to the different approaches of member countries, which do not seem willing to delegate to the European Union the power to control immigration. We hope that the Greek Presidency, which has made this issue one of its key priorities, will give it a boost. Above all, we hope that decisions will be made regarding the implementation of the Family Reunification Directive, which has been pending for over a year since its adoption by the European Parliament, and of course that full rights will be recognized for those who have completed five years of residence.

The fears that have been expressed from time to time regarding the anticipated EU enlargement towards Central and Eastern Europe and the new wave of migration that this may signify are also timely. These forecasts are most likely to not be confirmed. According to researchers of the phenomenon of migration, such as Jonas Wildgren, an expanded Europe could absorb up to 3 million migrants per year. However, this scenario may not be necessary. It is characteristic that in 1989, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that the flow of Eastern European migrants to the West during the 1990s would reach 25 million. Ultimately, it reached only 2.5 million. The best way to contain the flow of migrants from Eastern Europe is precisely through enlargement and the investments that will follow.

It is a fact that to a large extent, opinions about migration are based on well-established prejudices about migrants. Therefore, it is essential, in the process of shaping a common European migration policy, to dispel our prejudices and to see what the real role of migration is in our society.

For many of our fellow citizens, migration is associated with marginal living and crime. In Greece, until the first waves of migrants arrived, we proudly declared that we were the land of Xenia Zeus—obviously for the wealthy tourists from the West, those who did not differ much from us in culture and color. However, when the first thousands of migrants began to arrive, feelings changed drastically, and all our fears and insecurities came to the surface. Extreme cases of xenophobia and racist violence have been recorded numerous times over the past decade. Let us only remember the cases of the Kazakh, the Baths of Mytilene, and recently, Crete.

Two years ago, the newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique wrote about the stance of some Greek farmers who, angry about the mass arrests and deportations of undocumented migrants at that time, protested to the government to stop the “sweeps,” promising that they would lead the migrants to the borders after the completion of the harvest. Clearly, our farmers state that they cannot live without the cheap labor of migrants, but their humanitarian side is indifferent. This phenomenon certainly does not only concern Greek farmers. The same opportunistic thinking and actions can be observed, for example, among the Spaniards of El Ejido.

Another significant prejudice concerns the issue of unemployment and its relation to migrants. According to most researchers and the experiences of countries with a long history of migration, not only is migration not responsible for unemployment, but it is, on the contrary, a positive factor in the economy and contributes to job creation, as migrants take on jobs that are usually abandoned by locals. It is well-known that in Greece many small and medium-sized enterprises were saved thanks to the work of migrants, while entire abandoned areas and islands were revitalized. Greece experienced the greatest economic growth in its history during the 1990s, coinciding with the arrival of thousands of migrants.

Furthermore, most migrants are young, at the peak of their working careers, which means they consume less from state social services (healthcare, education) and pay more in contributions. It has been estimated that in the UK, migrants pay £2.5 billion more in taxes than they consume in various forms of benefits. The entry of predominantly young and hard-working migrants supports our own pensions and our social welfare systems.

According to Johannes Pflegerl of the Austrian Institute for Family Studies, the very decision to migrate, which is extremely difficult, demonstrates that those who dare to do so are courageous individuals with serious reasons to leave their homelands—people who dare to seek a better life and a place in the sun, despite the risks and hardships that the endeavor entails. Individuals with such courage usually have ambitions that drive them and help them thrive in the competitive environments of the West, benefiting not only themselves but also Western societies. The case of Silicon Valley, the most developed region on the planet, where 80% of those established there are migrants who have been given opportunities and recognized rights, is very illustrative. In general, it is estimated that one quarter of migrants hold university degrees, but only 2% practice a related profession.

European governments, including Greece, now seek the greatest possible integration of migrants already present in their territory or entering the country through legal means. While in the past the goal was the development of a multicultural society, now states aim rather to integrate migrant communities. A characteristic emphasis is placed on learning the language of the host country. Herein lies a significant challenge for our societies: to determine the balance between the right of migrant communities to maintain their uniqueness and cultural characteristics and the right of the host society to achieve the greatest possible economic and social cohesion.