Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berliner Institut für empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (BIM)

„The Political Economies of Migration Management:
Greece in the Aftermath of the 2015 'Refugee Crisis'“

Discussion with our fellow Olga Lafazani

Tuesday, January 14th at 16:30

Institut für Europäische Ethnologie
Room 408
Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Str. 40-41 (formerly M-Str.)

You're welcome!

About Olga Lafazani

Olga is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at IfEE and BIM since 2023. Her research is located at the intersections of migration, gender, urban space, borders and economies. She holds a PhD on "Transanational geographies of migration" from the Department of Geography, Harokopio University, Athens. Her talk is titled “The Political Economies of Migration Management: Greece in the Aftermath of the 2015 'Refugee Crisis'” (see abstract below).

Abstract

On March 18, 2016, following the arrival of approximately one million refugees in the preceding months, the EU-Turkey Joint Statement aimed to curb refugee arrivals. It effectively turned Turkey into the EU’s border guard in exchange for €6 billion and vague promises of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens and facilitation of the country’s EU accession process.

Two days earlier, on March 16, 2016, the emergency funding mechanism (AMIF) was activated for the first time on European Union soil. This mechanism was intended to assist Greece in addressing the so-called "refugee crisis." Consequently, the Aegean islands were transformed into a buffer zone between Turkey and Greece. From that point forward, a peculiar territorial arrangement defined the mobility regime for migrants. The country was divided into zones—namely, the islands and the mainland—with differing rights regarding movement, settlement, and access to employment and social services. The mainland, which is the focus of this research, was filled with more than 50 new camps within a year, to address the "urgent need for refugee housing."

But how urgent was this need? How many people were actually trapped within Greek territory? Why was this period framed and managed as a crisis? How was the emergency funding allocated, and who ultimately benefitted from it?

This presentation examines these questions through the lens of political economy: by tracing financial flows, revisiting statistics on arrivals, exploring connections (or the lack thereof) to the labor market, and analyzing geopolitical dynamics and socio-economic changes, the post-2016 period is reassessed.

By posing these fundamental questions, different connections and relationships—often overlooked but present all along—are brought to light. Ten years after the “refugee crisis” of 2015, the aim of this presentation is to challenge the concepts, governance strategies, and specific infrastructures that were presented as the most apparent and "common-sense" responses to the arrival of migrants.