5 - Asylum and Migration System Reform: A New Role for the Orthodox Church of Greece?

Summary

Abstract

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Greece, until then a country of emigration, became a receiving country for immigrants. In 2015, it was met with a significant humanitarian challenge during the largest migration and refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The Orthodox Church of Greece (OCG) and its NGOs made a significant contribution to dealing with the increased arrivals of refugees, asylum seekers and irregular immigrants. At the same time, Greece has been called upon to respond to this challenge while taking into account both humanitarian consideration and its obligation to safeguard the external borders of the EU in light of Europe's populist resurgence. This chapter suggests that within the framework of deeper European collaboration, Greece will on the one hand have to prioritise the needs of vulnerable individuals, while on the other hand effectively control irregular migration.

Keywords: Orthodox Church, Greece, European Union, migration, displacement, refugees

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the potential role of the Orthodox Church of Greece (OCG) in the asylum and migration system at the Greek domestic and European Union (EU) levels. As the Greek and, by extension, the external EU borders have been constantly under migratory pressure – a characteristic they share with Greek humanitarian structures – the need to increase the effectiveness of the EU system is ever more pressing. This is especially the case given the issue has now become entrenched and does not seem likely to go away. In light of the forthcoming restructure and revision of the current EU and Greek asylum and migration system, the OCG will have its own role to play as a humanitarian actor and will most probably have to realign its organisation to fit the new regime, once it has been determined. Shedding light on the particularities of the sociopolitical environment in which these developments are unfolding, this chapter will examine the religious demographics of the country while taking into account church-state relations. It will also explore distinct cases of displacement that exemplify the typology of state actions in the face of humanitarian challenges as such. Further, we discuss the dominant tendencies informing the reform of the EU asylum and migration system, which will inevitably constitute a model framework for the state and shall therefore indirectly codetermine the corresponding role of the OCG.