Illegal Migration Crisis in the South-Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan Region

The Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) has repeatedly warned that illegal migration has shaped itself into a national security threat for the South-Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan region.

The widespread internal destabilization of Arab countries (Egypt, Libya, Iraq and recently in Syria) has created the conditions for the illegal migration threat to assume unprecedented proportions.

The developing migration crisis has finally attracted the attention of “central” European powers to the fast approaching breakdown because of uncontrollable waves of North African undocumented migrants crashing onto European shores.

After the Libyan crisis, the invasion of the Italian island of Lampedusa (not to mention similar events on the Greek islands) which lies about 75 miles off the Tunisian coast, by waves of Tunisian seeking entry into Europe has helped jolt the perennially non-committal, dilly-dallying European Union into turning its gaze onto the threat. Italy, an EU member state, decided to give the arriving illegal Tunisian immigrants travel papers and an exit into what they perceive as greener pastures across the border into France.

Within days, France and Italy – the former incensed at the Italian free passage move, the latter relieved that finally the whole European “central” crew was being into awakening – issued an urgent joint call for the revision of the Schengen open-border treaty.

Greece is already bucking under the unwanted burden of over one million illegal migrants, mostly Muslim and mostly from Asia, Africa and Turkey. Unfortunately, Greece is still swaying between empty macho announcements (“We will build a border fence”) and complete inaction in the face of her crumbling human security and sovereignty.

The centre of Athens has been turned into a filthy ghetto, while illegal migrant troubles have already shaken places like Patras and Igoumenitsa ports, both getaways to Italy, the latter currently being overrun by angry illegal migrant mobs, despairing at not being allowed to climb onto departing ferries in order to travel via Italy to Germany, Scandinavian and Benelux countries.

But, how the European Commission in cooperating with the South-Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan states, face the problem of the migration crisis which is taking uncontrollable dimension that can lead to explosive social unrest in the future with the increase of domestic unemployment and the intensification of the global financial crisis as well as the creation of a culture of fear for the next generation?

The European Commission needs to develop a “Network of European Immigration Liaison Officers (ILO)” in the South-Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan region and focus on the strategic importance on human intelligence (HUMINT) that will be provided from the Network of OLI.

The South-Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan Immigration Liaison Officers will have as their central objective the collection and intelligence sharing with the EU Joint Situation Centre, FRONTEX and EUROPOL for an operational as well as strategic level.

The strategic aim of the ILO is to promote intelligence sharing between EU member states in order to prevent the traffickers of illegal immigrants to bring them in European territory and not only to deal with the problem after the illegal immigrants are already in European territory.

In conclusion, the Network of ILO can be the fulfilment of the European Immigration Policy (EIP) given the fact that the European Commission will clarify what kind of legal immigrants needs (absence of job specialties etc) and forms a policy which will enable the design of a realistic and long term Immigration Policy on European level!