Greece external relations briefing: The deadly migrant shipwreck and the response of the government

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Weekly Briefing, Vol. 63. No. 4 (GR) June 2023

 

The deadly migrant shipwreck and the response of the government

 

 

Summary

The briefing presents the recent developments on the migration issue in Greece. The deadly migrant shipwreck off Pylos has accelerated the efforts of the government to cultivate a unanimous European support in order for more effective policies to take place. However, the blockage of Hungary and Poland on the European Council Summit has slowed down the progress of finalizing the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

 

Introduction

Greece is one of the main routes of refugees and migrants from Asia, Middle East and Africa to the European Union.  In the 2015 migration crisis, more than one million people arrived on the Greek islands. Since 2016 the migration flows towards Greece has gradually been reduced however, the migration issue is still at the top of the foreign policy agenda of the country. The fact that still many people lose their lives in the sea during their effort through Greece to reach the European Union, with the recent tragic shipwreck being among the deadliest ever, proves that a more effective policy in the national and European level needs to take place. The Greek Prime Minister both in EU and NATO level has urgently called for a unanimous and more comprehensive policy that will tackle the trafficker’s network, increase the protection of the external borders of the EU and accelerate the cooperation with the countries of origin of migration in order to reduce the migrants flows to the EU.

 

The migrant shipwreck

On Tuesday 13 June 2023, a fishing vessel heavily overloaded was detected by a plane of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency -Frontex- 80 km southwest of the southern Greek coastal town of Pylos. Frontex immediately informed the Greek and Italian authorities (1). The Greek coast guard sent a vessel to approach the boat and provide assistant. According to the Greek coast guard the fishing vessel refused the assistance and stated the desire to continue its voyage towards Italy. A few hours later the small vessel capsized and sank. The Greek authorities immediately ordered the start of a rescue operation. It is estimated that approximately 700 people were on board but only 104 were rescued. Unfortunately, 82 passengers have confirmed dead and more than 500 people are still missing (2).

The shipwreck off Pylos is among the deadliest in Greece and in Europe. The Prime Minister’s office declared a three-day national mourning stating “for the victims of today’s tragic shipwreck in international waters west of Greece, with thoughts also for all the victims of unscrupulous traffickers who take advantage of human misery”. It should be mentioned that the tragic events occurred two weeks before the second round of national elections on the 25th of June, with a caretaker government in place (3). In addition, research started in order to investigate the reasons leading to this humanitarian tragedy, as well as whether the Greek Coast Guard bears any responsibility. Until now 9 Egyptians have been arrested by the Greek authorities with charges of forming criminal organization and illegal immigration trafficking (4).

 

The European Council Summit

The tragic events in Pylos triggered an immediate response in a European Union level. Specifically, on the 29th and 30th of June an EU Summit was held with migration been among the key priorities on the agenda. The newly reelected Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his arrival statement argued that migration is not a national issue and needs to be addressed at a European level, as it concerns the entire continent. Mitsotakis praised the Greek Coast Guard and the Armed Forces for their accomplishment to reduce by 90% the migratory flows to the Greek islands and stressed the great importance of Greece’s contribution in protecting the external boarders of the European Union. He also mentioned that it is unfair that some European circles target the Greek Coast Guard, which offer its services in the best possible way in order to save thousands of people at sea. The PM during his statement argued that the EU needs to focus its energy and resources towards eradicating the traffickers that put in danger the lives of people by sailing in the Mediterranean (5).

The President of the EU Council Charles Michel mentioned that the European Council expressed its profound sorrow for the loss of so many lives as a result of the recent tragedy in the Mediterranean and stated that “The EU remains committed to breaking the business model of traffickers and smuggling networks, including instrumentalization, and to tackling the root causes of irregular migration so as to better address the flows of migrants and avoid that people embark on such perilous journeys”. He further stressed that “Migration is a European challenge that requires a European response”. A two-day discussion on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, in line with the previous Council conclusions of December 2016, June 2018 and June 2019, was conducted between the EU member states. However, two out of the 27 member states, namely Hungary and Poland, blocked the adoption of joint conclusions on migration by the European Council, since not a final agreement was reached in the context of solidarity measures, relocation and resettlement (6).

The Greek PM during the press conference upon the completion of the EU Summit stated that “unfortunately we were unable to reach conclusions at European Council level because of the persistent refusal of two countries, Poland and Hungary, to sign up to the text that had been prepared”. Nevertheless, Mitsotakis mentioned that there will be no substantial change, since the Pact will continue to be negotiated with the European Parliament. He also stated that things will move forward in an operational level by Member States through agreements, such as the most recent one reached with Tunisia (7). The agreement between EU-Tunisia has been finalized on Sunday 16 June. Its purpose is to reduce the migrant departures from Africa to Europe, with EU providing Tunis $118m to strengthen its border controls (8).

 

NATO Summit in Vilnius

On 11th and 12th of July the annual NATO Summit was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. The focus of the agenda was the Ukrainian crisis and the current geopolitical challenges. The Greek PM also found the opportunity to raise the migration issue. Mitsotakis took the opportunity to stress that migration flows in the Mediterranean are a hybrid threat to the stability of the European Union and therefore NATO as well. Thus, it is an issue that needs to be raised at the level of the NATO Alliance (9). It should be mentioned that prior to the NATO Summit, Mitsotakis visited Latvia on the 10th of July to meet with the Latvian PM, Krišjānis Kariņš. During the meeting, the two leaders also elaborated on the issue of migration. They both agreed that protecting the external borders of the EU effectively is highly important, as well as working towards finalizing the Pact on Migration and Asylum (10).

 

Frontex in Greece

The above efforts of the PM to accelerate an EU and NATO member states cooperation on the migration issue has been shadowed by media publications arguing that Frontex threatens suspending its activities in Greece. In particular, an article published by the French newspaper Le Monde stated that during the Frontex’s board meeting held on 20th 21st of June in Warsaw, Jonas Grimheden, head of the Fundamental Rights Office, advocated the decision to suspend the Agency’s activities in Greece, on the basis of Article 46 of the Frontex regulations, which concerns “the violation of fundamental rights or international protection obligations that are of a serious nature or are likely to persist” (11). When, during the press conference of the EU Summit, the Greek PM was asked about the possible Frontex withdrawal from Greece, he mentioned that the previous government had good cooperation with Frontex, which the new government is looking forward to continuing. He stated: “Any issues that exist can always be resolved in good faith”. Nevertheless, Mitsotakis stressed that Greece and Frontex have a common mission, that is to protect the external borders and to save people who are in danger at sea and argued that it has not come to his attention that Frontex plans to suspend its activities in Greece (7). Hans Leijtens, the executive director of Frontex, told to the European Parliament’s Justice Committee that such decision by Frontex would affect the capability to save lives, thus it needs to be balanced (12).

 

Conclusion

The high number of deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea is the shocking proof that the migration policy of Greece and the EU is inadequate. Following the recent migrant shipwreck in Pylos the Greek government accelerated its efforts to find a common European solution to reduce the flows, which simultaneously would reduce the risk of people losing their lives during the high-risk voyages towards Europe.  However, not all the member states are in line with a common policy on migration resulting in slow progress. An EU consensus needs to be reached urgently for preventing losing any more human lives in the sea.

 

 

References