Securitisation of migration in the EU: The case of Greece

Until recently one could observe the striking indifference of IR scholars about migration. One of the reasons is that migration analysis had been related to social, humanitarian and labour and hence ‘low politics’ issues. In essence the lack of migration study was due to the conception of low vs. high politics, a basic tool of IR analyses. The integration of migration as a subject in the IR discipline can explain the relations built between countries and collective identities. It is of vital importance to look into the shift of academic interest from conventional approaches, which focus on how security translates into foreign policy, to more critical security approaches, which concentrate on the effects of diplomacy to people. This is a way to understand that changing the discussion’s focus can change the world into a more peaceful place. Migration has caused concern particularly in the last twenty years and it has been treated as a new security challenge by the Western world. The increased border controls, the enhanced role of FRONTEX, and the scaremongering political/media discourse contribute to building a ‘Fortress Europe’. Against this backdrop, this paper will discuss securitisation of migration (i.e. construction of migration as a security threat) in Greece in the wider context of the European Union. Securitization of migration expressed through political/media discourse and policy practices is an on-going process. Discourses about migration have been concentrating on the negative effects of migration on identity, public order and labour market stability. Common European migration policies either concentrate on the fortification of Europe or are absent, if one considers burden-sharing issues. Immigration certainly poses a significant challenge to a previously mono-cultural and mono-religious society, which was faced by an unprecedented large migration influx, like Greece. Changes regarding Greek governments’ choices, political and media discourse, and EU’s agenda on migration policies show an amplified politicisation of migration. In this transformational process Europeanisation plays a vital role since it triggers a strong interdependence between European policies and policy reformations in Greece. As such, it can be used as a lens to study the role of EU policies in domestic politics regarding migration. After briefly discussing the research results on discourse analysis of Greek media and parliamentary debates, I will concentrate on securitisation practices (i.e. sweep operations, detention centres, militarisation of borders, etc), placing them in the wider context of the securitarian approach of migration in the EU, which puts a spotlight on the paradoxical chasm between the EU’s philosophy and its strategy towards migration.