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On Wednesday 4th March, the Consular Corps in Greece (CCG) came together for a first working meeting.
Two topical issues were on the agenda of the more than 80 honorary and career consuls (including some ambassadors) present:

1) The situation concerning legal and illegal migration into Greece,
2) The objectives of the Hellenic Presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).


First Issue ( to see the Speech of Secretary General Georgiadis download here )

On the first issue, Secretary General Patroklos Georgiadis of the Hellenic Ministry of Interior described the current situation at Greece’s borders and the measures taken to adequately deal with an influx of illegal migrants that has been exploding over the last years and led to the arrest of over 146.000 persons in 2008 (compared to 112.000 in 2007).

While Greece - like its European partners - is promoting freedom of movement for qualified professionals, a great number of the migrants have no perspective of being integrated into the economy. Only few can be granted the status of political refugees.
The others would have to go or be sent back to their countries of origin.

Some of those countries of origin and some transit countries show a pronounced lack of cooperation in this regard.

Mr Georgiadis mentioned the project of a common European border protection (FRONTEX). With this institution slowly gathering speed, the European member states have carried out live border-guard exercises in Greece in 2007 and 2008 (“Poseidon”).

Mr Georgiadis also explained the objectives of the Pact on Migration and Asylum (adopted by the European Council in October 2008) and the measures the Hellenic Government is taking to comply with its obligations.

Finally, Mr Georgiadis introduced the audience to the Global Forum on Migration and Development. Greece has taken over the Presidency of this organisation in January and will host its next annual conference on 2 and 3 November 2009.

During the subsequent question and answer session, details concerning the European Funds for Migration were discussed. For the time being, the Hellenic Government remains non-committant concerning a new round of legalisations for long-term illegal residents but is considering improvements such as a speedier  issuing of residence permits for non-European entrepreneurs and their staff (the CCG will follow up with the Ministry on this point, as it concerns some of its members).

Second Issue (to read the speech of Professor Stephanou download  here )
On the second issue, Professor Konstantinos Stephanou of Panteion University, Athens, spoke about Greece’s foreign policy objectives in general, and the opportunities which the current Greek presidency of the OSCE has to offer to pursue these objectives. He elaborated on Greece’s commitment to peace and stability worldwide, and on the active role Greece has always played in United Nations peace-keeping and related missions as well as in NATO and the European Security and Defence Identity.

He stressed the long-standing strategic partnership between the Hellenic Republic and the United States of America, e.g. in the stabilisation of the Balkans region, as one of these policy goals. On the other hand, Greece is - for historic and cultural reasons - also well placed to reach out to the other major player, Russia. Prof Stephanou saw good chances for an improvement in relations between the USA and Russia. The litmus test, however, would be seen by the West today in Russia’s support for Iran’s nuclear programme.

Prof Stephanou also mentioned the possibility to promote environmental policy within the OSCE framework, and discussed the implications of the current financial crisis for the work of international organisations in general. He was carefully optimistic that despite economic difficulties international organisations such as the OSCE would play an even more important role in international security in the future.

In the subsequent question and answer session, regional security and the energy supply of Europe were briefly discussed before the meeting had to be brought to a close.