Migration – a united Europe?
Faced with the specter of reliving a situation reminiscent of 2015 – obviously not the same, but with some similar characteristics – when tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees were “stuck” on Greece’s border with North Macedonia, Athens is in search of a strategy – and allies to strengthen its position and push it through – to respond to Berlin’s recent decision to tighten controls on its land borders.
Germany’s policy brings into question the essence of the Schengen acquis.
Greece, a vocal supporter of the Migration Pact and the need for all EU states to share the burden and not only, or mainly, the frontline ones, looks to fellow European Union members which find themselves in an almost identical situation – having EU external borders, mainly Italy, but also countries like Spain, Portugal and Poland – to form a unified front in order to pressure Germany to avoid the slippery slope of implementing national policies that weaken the principles that form the core of the EU: cohesion and solidarity.
The move has resulted in many European countries expressing dismay and taking a stand against it.
Still, despite the heated rhetoric and the political debate on the issue, which dominated last June’s European Parliament elections, the fact is that irregular migration and more specifically crossings over the southern borders of the EU – the region that sees the most unauthorized migration – were, according to the UN, down by 35% in the first eight months of the year.
The electoral collapse of Germany’s Socialists in Thuringia and Saxony, and the anxiety over a potentially similar result next Sunday in Brandenburg, is clearly behind the decision of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tighten land border controls.
Greece cannot be once again unfairly treated in bearing most of the huge social and financial cost of dealing with immigration and refugee flows as it did almost a decade ago.
The disturbing images from the summer of 2015 are a painful reminder of what to avoid.
Europe – and the Commission has a critical role to play here – should not allow itself to slowly move to a dangerous new reality where each member will in essence be more and more left on its own.
As the Greek prime minister noted “the answer cannot be to unilaterally abolish Schengen and pass the ball to the countries on Europe’s external borders.”
Steering clear of such a development will be the focus of Greece’s strategy in the weeks and months to come. It is an approach not only dictated by its own interests; it’s the right thing to do and the right policy to follow to preserve a united Europe.
