Ομιλία του Πρέσβη της Ελλάδος στη Σόφια, κ. Δημοσθένη Στωίδη αναφορικά με το προσφυγικό

The refugee crisis and the Balkans
Is the regional stability at stake?

I thank the President of the Security Forum, Yordan Bozhilov for the kind invitation for giving me the opportunity to address such an important and timely subject, in front of this distinguished audience.

The issue of the refugee crisis is justifiably being debated regularly in most international fora, because of its extraordinary intensity and multifaceted aspects and dimensions of humanitarian, social, political, economic and security character.

The region that we live in, is experiencing this unprecedented crisis, which found our countries mostly unprepared, therefore taken aback.  However, some countries were given strong indications of what was to be ensued, having witnessed, well in advance the phenomenon of immigration flows, largely illegal. This is the case of Greece, at least, where numerous immigrants, of various nationalities, were progressively reaching our borders and territory, sometime ago now, from our eastern neighbour. The acuteness of the emerged problem, the security concerns, urged us to contemplate and apply several measures, one of which was the decision to construct a 12.5 klm of fence at our eastern land borders.

At the time, this tool did not stir any significant concern, either bilaterally or internationally. And indeed it proved effective, nationally. Soon though, other routes were used due to the continuous pace of entry of economic immigrants but also due to the creativity of the traffickers.

For us, the awareness of the society and the alertness of the authorities to cope with the accrued immigration and its social implications was a concomitant consequence and task. In a way our country and few other member states at the external borders of the E.U., were already familiarized with the legal and illegal immigration and to a lesser degree, if I may say so, with refugees and asylum seekers.

Currently the refugee crisis has been augmented out of proportions and affects the totality of the member states, thus becoming a European concern and not only. Certainly all Balkan countries, irrespective of their institutional relationship with the E.U., are too being acquainted, many of them for the first time, with the phenomenon of massive wave of people in their territory, people of different nationalities, different cultures, different customs, different religion or faith. Evidently national authorities, societies, public opinion, mentalities e.t.c. were overwhelmed and perhaps justifiably many reacted  in an asymmetric, spasmodic and epidermic manner.  

Unjustifiable though was, in our view, the hasty assumption, and frequent criticism that the uncontrollable refugee crisis was the result of shortcomings and inadequate response by specific member states at the external borders of the E.U. .

The fact that in the middle of the tourist season, Greece was the first entry E.U. country, for about 200000 refugees, the fact that at the same period 83000 people were rescued in over 2500 incidents, did not and does not seem to really matter for some of our partners, who were alerted when they were faced with the same problem, although of much less intensity. It is useful to recall at this point that 650000 refugees have entered the Greek territory since the beginning of 2015. Yet for some the problem is Greek, not European.

However, what is needed most to tackle in concert this complicate and intractable, common problem for us all, is the manifestation of tangible solidarity, community of purpose, understanding, prudence and sang froid.  If we fail to concur, to share the community of the consequences of this persistent crisis, then we risk to serve the purpose of those who contest Europe, those who would rejoice of a vulnerable Europe. A Europe fortress, egoistic, arrogant is the recipe of a Europe of uncertain future, prey to extremist voices and intentions, within or outside Europe.

At this particular juncture, in the wake of the wider instability and deep concern, caused by the dramatic consequences of the recent abominable terrorist attacks, we cannot have the luxury to dissociate ourselves from the security problems which knock on our doors. But we equally need to be adequately conscious not to link these terrorist criminal actions with the refugee crisis. We must indeed be alert, vigilant, extremely attentive and cautious in order to avert the possible infiltration of extremists.  But we should not compromise our humanitarian values of compassion for the unfortunate refugees, those in real need and international protection.

In this context, we envisage the substantial revision, an overhaul of the Dublin Regulation in order to become a fairer and genuine burden-sharing system, that would allocate asylum seekers on the basis of objective criteria. It is interesting to note that the provisions of the existing Dublin Regulation, bearing in mind the current refugee and migratory influx, would require Greece, not only to examine over 600000 asylum applications yearly, but also to provide integration for approximately 300000 or more applicants who could be recognized as refugees.  It is clear and evident that this goal is unrealistic and untenable. Moreover, in a period of financial strains the current Dublin system is costly, adding a tremendous bureaucratic burden for the member states concerned.

Certainly the above thoughts apply in our immediate neighbourhood, the Balkans. Current tension with regards to the management of refugee/immigrant flows, between neighbouring countries of different status with respect to the E.U., located in the route towards central and northern Europe, “ the Balkan corridor”,  does reflect the varied perception of responding to the problem.  

Nevertheless it does not, in our view, cause any serious security concerns. Regional stability is better served, in my opinion, by the implementation of relevant policies and decisions at the E.U. level and in other fora, with different participation format. More Europe is the answer. Subsequently I mention namely the decisions of the European Council of  October 15th, the outcome of the ensuing so called mini Summit of October 25th, the recent  Declaration of the Valetta Summit of 11-12th November along with the annexed Action Plan, and the results of the most recent E.U.- Turkey Summit (29/11). All these, certainly govern our own policy. The involvement of all countries in our region accentuates the fact that the problem we face is common, and that we need to implement together concrete policies, and adopt attitudes at a european level towards the burden - sharing mentality, including relocation, resettlement and readmission projects.

The success of this concept requires the commitment of all. Greece, in spite of the financial reality, and by far the most frequent and condensed Schengen entry point, is preparing to receive on a permanent basis around 50000 refugees, in implementing its share of the above decisions. It is also proceeding in setting up five reception and registration Centres (the so called hotspots) in Greek islands. To this direction, we are of the view, that such hotspots could better operate in safe countries outside the Schengen area, where the process of the movement of the refugees towards European destinations could be more effective and primarily secured.  We think that all of us in the E.U. and our region, of course, will manifest our preparedness to adapt the appropriate measures, including effective and useful exchange of classified information, realizing that regional cooperation and stability is not put at stake, due to the refugee crisis.

We should spare no efforts to work, within our potential, towards addressing the causes of the creation of the waves of the refugees.

Let us hope that the international community will undertake initiatives and accelerate its endeavours, with the aim to improve the conditions in the countries of origin, so that eventually the bulk of the refugees return to their lands.  And have peace prevail.

Thank you for your kind attention