FT: "300,000 illegal immigrants will be legalized in Greece"

According to the Financial Times, 300,000 illegal immigrants will be given documents and jobs as the government says there is a shortage of farm workers, despite Greece having the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

More than promised

According to the newspaper, this issue was discussed at today’s (26.09.2023) meeting of the ΚΥΣΕΑ (Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense), and Immigration Minister Dimitris Kairidis said that the plan to attract labor to Greece concerns foreigners whose visa has expired for residence or lack of necessary documents, i.e. illegal immigrants.

https://rua.gr/news/migrantskij-front/53160-k-mitsotakis-migrantam-ne-uezzhajte-v-evropu-ostavajtes-zdes-u-nas-polno-raboty.html

The Immigration Minister explained that this particular plan for 300,000 illegal immigrants is aimed at reducing severe labor shortages in agriculture, tourism and construction, and it will not encourage illegal immigration, but will “increase government revenue through taxes and employment contributions, and will help address severe labor shortages in certain sectors.”

This is an even higher number than the one we are talking about reportedsince there was information that the plan involves attracting 180,000 illegal immigrants. Regardless, this is an incredibly large number that will clearly change the population, and relatively instantly.

https://rua.gr/news/bissecon/52024-egipet-predostavit-gretsii-5-000-selskokhozyajstvennykh-rabochikh-po-sezonnoj-skhema.html

More than threefold increase in migration flows in August

The Financial Times also analyzes migration flows to Greece, which more than tripled in August this year compared with 2022, when 715 arrivals were recorded. In fact, since the beginning of September, another 7,000 people have arrived on the Greek islands, with accommodation capacity once again reaching its limit.

The government promised to be “fair but tough”. Dimitris Kairidis told the FT that Greek authorities will continue to “zealously guard the borders, but at the same time (…) provide very humane conditions for asylum seekers.”

While Greece is trying to significantly reduce or even stop the flow of illegal immigrants, it is also facing a labor shortage, especially in agriculture.

https://rua.gr/news/migrantskij-front/54820-grecheskie-fermery-otchayanno-nuzhdayutsya-v-inostrannoj-rabochej-sile.html

Last month, a job center in Heraklion, Crete, warned that many winegrowers were seeing “the fruits of their labor going to waste” as they were unable to complete the harvest without additional help. The labor shortage is not just affecting winegrowers: agricultural cooperative Ierapetra said the “situation is extremely dire” in some rural areas of Crete, with many producers abandoning their harvest because they cannot cope with it themselves.

In turn, Lefteris Avgenakis said that programs to attract foreign workers from countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh are often delayed due to bureaucratic obstacles, and it is essential to recruit migrants already in the country. The minister said that Greece has many agricultural workers who work in the informal economy, creating “lack of security and causing social, health and financial problems.”

It’s obvious that this is the least dangerous thing the government is doing.

Of course, they will not be able to find 300,000, and even the previously announced 180,000because illegal immigrants do not come to Greece, but stay for a while while trying to leave for Germany or the northern Scandinavian countries, so their number is unlikely to exceed, for example, 100,000.

It should also be taken into account that the majority of migrants who arrived in Greece from Turkey did not come to Europe to work in the fields. Having paid from 7 to 15 thousand US dollars, migrants, lured by advertising that is actively distributed in the poorest countries of Asia and Africa, go to Europe for a rich and beautiful life. Which does not involve “dirty work in the fields of Greece.” Let’s also not forget that they are all young, of reproductive age, and the sharp decline in the population of Greece is a given.

But most importantly: wouldn’t it be simpler to introduce incentives like their northern neighbors to force 200,000 unemployed Greeks to work in the agricultural sector? Most likely, the authors of the law have completely different thoughts in their heads. I wonder who whispers this to them?

PS Livehack from Italians – In order not to end up “over the fence” in a temporary detention center, illegal immigrants will have to pay a deposit of almost 5 thousand euros. Government measure writes Euronews clearly aims to effectively curb the flow of migrants. After all, this year alone, approximately 133 thousand asylum seekers arrived in the country – twice as many as last year and three times more than in 2021.

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