“South East Mediterranean: the region is one of the important routes of illegal migration to the European Union”

by:  George Tassiopoulos

Greece is one of the EU countries which supported the project launched by Nicolas Sarkozy for the Union for the Mediterranean (Union pour la Méditerranée). A country with almost 6,000 big and small islands is not only attached to its antiquity, but also to the Mediterranean sea, which has been the cradle of the ancient Greek civilisation, known for advances in philosophy, architecture, drama, government, and science. A reason why Greece supported Sarkozy’s project – in contrast to other member states – is its geography.

Greece is located in the Balkans, a region marked by the recent wars in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and FYROM, just after the fall of the Berlin wall. At the same time, in the East the Greek-Turkish relations are always in the shadow of the Cypriot question.

Linguistically and culturally isolated, with its non-Latin alphabet, Greece made a clear choice with regards to its foreign policy: “We belong to the West” as the former President of the Republic, Constantinos Karamanlis said a few years ago. As a member of NATO, the Council of Europe, and especially of the European Union, the Hellenic Republic intended to create a protective shield within a difficult region, where ethnic cleansings, political instability, abhorrence and absence of democratic values were the norm, not the exception. Thus the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean was also seen by the Greek politicians as one more protective shield.

Potential benefits

Since the “Union for the Mediterranean” is placed within the framework of the EU, the project could have a positive effect on issues such as illegal migration with the reinforcement of the “Poseidon operation” at the Greek – Bulgarian – Turkish borders (the region is one of the important routes of illegal migration to the European Union), as the European agency FRONTEX does, which provides particular added value to the national border management systems of the Member States.

The average per capita income in the south-east Europe is five times lower than in the north, thus the creation of the Union could boost economic growth, tourism, trade and could reinforce investments in the region..

Greece joined the Union for one more reason: it was a French initiative after all. Between the two countries there long lasting excellent bilateral relations, originated by the role of France during the Greek dictatorship, when a great number of political figures lived in Paris and with the accession of Greece in the European Union in 1981. The visit of Nicolas Sarkozy in Athens, (June 6, 2008), the first visit of a French president since 1982, has undoubtedly helped to gain the Greek support to his project.