for border management. One of the main goals of
the Greek presidency will be to enhance all pre-
vention measures in third countries of illegal
immigrant origin and transit. In this context, the
Greek presidency will forward the implementation
of the Common European Asylum System, plac-
ing special emphasis on measures aimed at
enhancing solidarity towards member states that
are under particular strain as a result of immigra-
tion flows. The key is to “evenly allocate burdens
and responsibilities” between the countries of the
European North and South.
How has the EU been handling
the immigration issue up to now
and with what tools?
Given the objectives of the Greek presidency, we
will seek, with the invaluable assistance of Dr.
Angeliki Dimitriadis, a researcher at the Hellenic
Foundation for European & Foreign Policy
(ELIAMEP), answers to certain key points that
explain the EU’s immigration policy up to now, as
well as the “open issues”/“challenges” for this
semester.
How does the EU respond to the immigration
problem?
The EU has committed itself to establishing a
Common European Asylum System, which will be
based on the comprehensive and faithful imple-
mentation of the Geneva Convention of 1951,
whose guardian is the High Commissioner of the
UN. That said, making law is one thing and
enforcing it on a group of 28 EU member states
–each one of which also has its own national leg-
islation– is another. Overall, the main rationale of
the “Dublin II” regulation remains: interested per-
sons can seek asylum only in the first “country of
entry” in the EU, which is entrusted with the duty
of considering and reviewing the applications of
all asylum seekers. However, countries like
Greece protest that, owing to their geopolitical
position, they are the ones that get overwhelmed
by thousands of asylum applications. The
Commission urges EU member-state govern-
ments to expand inspections all over the
Mediterranean, from Cyprus to Spain, in order to
avoid tragedies like the recent one at
Lambedusa.
What is the situation in the Mediterranean,
compared to other points of entry in the EU?
In 2012, the east Mediterranean route –via
Greece– was used for the largest number of
recorded illegal refugee entries; that is 37,214
cases (51% of the total number of recorded illegal
entries). Nonetheless, this number has been
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