from Syria, bound for Italy.
The Mediterranean has, for quite some time,
become a watery grave for people who try to
escape from war, poverty and despair. These
tragedies are forcing the political leaderships of
the countries of the European South to consider
ways of joint action, to take initiatives for the cre-
ation of a common front against a common prob-
lem: irregular migration.
On the occasion of the Greek presidency of the
EU, which will be followed by the Italian presiden-
cy –a fortunate occurrence for the further advance-
ment of joint action on irregular migration–, the
year 2014 has already been proclaimed “Year of
the Mediterranean” by the prime ministers of
Greece and Italy.
The Greek presidency considers the migration
issue to be one of its key priorities, along with the
issues of safeguarding the borders, as well as
mobility. According to diplomatic sources, in this
semester Greece will seek to highlight the posi-
tive effects from a comprehensive, European-
level management of immigration that will serve
the goals of growth. As stated by the same
sources, the efforts will focus on highlighting all
migration policy dimensions, with parallel meas-
ures for reducing the impact of irregular migration
on the economic, social and political levels.
Special emphasis will be placed on measures for
fighting irregular migration, which are focused on
readmission, fighting smuggling and the traffick-
ing of human beings, as well as capacity building
Trade with Greece
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