nEUwsletter 29/03/2020
- European Horizons Bangor
- Mar 29, 2020
- 8 min read
The impact of coronavirus on the Greco-Turkish border's migrant crisis
By Kieran Jones
Thousands of refugees had gathered at the border crossing following last month’s announcement from the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Turkey would no longer attempt to stop refugees seeking to enter Europe through Greece, resulting in violent clashes between said refugees and the Greek authorities, who were reported using tear gas and water cannons to repel the waves of refugees seeking to enter, as well as the Greek coastguard opening fire upon refugee boats setting sail for Greece and its islands from Turkey. But how has the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic affected the situation?
The Turkish interior minister, Suleyman Soylu announced on March 27th that, overnight, Turkish authorities had evacuated some 5,800 migrants gathered at the Turkey-Greece border into immigration centres in 9 different Turkish provinces amid fears of spreading coronavirus between the large gatherings of people at said border. Some migrants, however, are unwilling to give up on getting into Greece, refusing to be evacuated. Some may have left everything behind and may be left not knowing what to do. Last week, some 500 migrants were reported still attempting to cross the border but were beaten back by Greek authorities.
Soylu also warned that Turkey’s policy on immigration has not changed, and that once the pandemic has come to an end, refugees will still be allowed to pass through Turkey into Europe.
On March 19th, Turkey closed its rail and land borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Iran, and more in an attempt to delay the spread of the virus, however, the Turkey-Iran border has proven porous, with continuous waves of refugees pouring into Turkey with a view to enter Europe. It is in Turkey’s best interests to close the gaps in this border, as those fleeing Iran and those already in Turkey who have fled Syria are likely to mix, increasing the chance of spreading the virus.
Illegal migration to Greece is at its lowest point since the start of the year, providing some respite for Greece and its authorities. It is reported that since the start of 2020, 9,486 migrants have crossed into Greece. In the last week, there were only 105 cases of illegal migration into Greece, compared to one week in early March, where there were 1,288 cases, proving that the current pandemic has resulted in a striking drop-off.
Turkey has already suffered over 3,600 cases of coronavirus, and it is unclear whether any refugees at the border crossings have contracted the virus, although, Turkey’s U.S. ambassador, Serdar Kilic, has stated that preventing the spread of the virus between the 900,000 refugees at the border crossings, some fleeing Syria, some fleeing Iran, is a ‘mission impossible’.
There are, as of yet, no confirmed cases of coronavirus within the migrant community currently or previously situated at the border crossings, however, this is likely due to a lack of testing.
There are currently more than 100,000 refugees and asylum seekers stuck in Greece, as many of the Balkan states closed and barricaded their borders during the refugee crisis of 2016 in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the heart of Europe. 42,000 of those refugees are crammed onto the Aegean islands in cramped, unsanitary camps. One such camp is camp Moria, on the island of Lesbos, which, although designed for just 2,200 people, currently houses nearly 20,000. With one confirmed case of coronavirus on Lesbos earlier this month and only 6 intensive care beds for the entire island, it is a particularly dire situation for the people stuck there.
The situation is made worse by vigilantes, who, as a result of increasing anger at their number and the unfaltering growth of the camps, take it upon themselves to attack the refugees, doctors, volunteers, and set fire to the tents of these camps. This has prompted many NGOs to suspend their humanitarian operations at these camps for fear of their workers’ safety.
Earlier this month, on March 16th, the Greek government imposed stringent restrictions on the movement of migrants in the island camps, for example, that only one person per family can go out each day between the hours of 7am and 7pm and only for essential goods. All visitors have also been banned, including aid agencies. There are further plans to turn at least two of the Aegean camps into enclosed facilities, more akin to detention facilities with very limited entry and exit.
Aid workers and human rights activists are highly critical of these restrictions, who warn that if coronavirus does spread to these camps, with everybody cramped together in such great numbers, the virus will spread rapidly, leading to the decimation of these migrant communities. Human Rights Watch, an activist group, states that the Greek government cannot, on the grounds of public health, justify forcing migrants to remain in conditions that violate their rights, and that are harmful to their well-being, health, and dignity.
On March 24th, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs urged the EU to evacuate the 42,000 migrants from the overcrowded Aegean camps, resulting in the EU is pressuring Greece to move migrants from the camps to the mainland. Greek officials, however, have refused, scared of potentially spreading the virus from the islands to the mainland. Instead, the EU and Greece are currently formulating a plan to potentially focus on relocating the most vulnerable populations from the islands, including the disabled, elderly, and the chronically ill.
There are concerns from human rights groups that EU countries, in particular, Greece, will use coronavirus as an excuse to suspend asylum or relocation, having already taken an unyielding approach to migration even before the inception of the epidemic.
The lasting impact of coronavirus on environment
By Mathilde Flamant
The Covid-19 is a virus that appeared in China in December 2019. Since then, the virus has spread worlwide, thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have fallen ill. The States have imposed strict measures of social distancing, lockdowns, travel restrictions to contain the spread that have changed the entire way of life of those who have not caught the disease.
Scientists already point that pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen across the world. Indeed, as industries, business and transport networks have shut down, the carbon emissions have suddenly dropped. For instance, levels of pollution in New York have reduced by almost 50% compared with this time last year, when the proportion of days with “good quality air” was up to 11.4% compared with the same time last year in many cities across China. In Europe, satellite images show nitrogen dioxide emissions fading away over Northern Italy and Spain.
Global stock markets have tumbled with the falling of carbon emissions. The current situation has brought widespread job losses and fragilised the livelihoods of millions, which shows that it is totally the opposite of the drive towards a decarbonised and sustainable economy.
So the environnemental consequence of the virus seems to only be a fleeting change and could diffultly lead to longer-lasting falls in emissions. Indeed, a global pandemic cannot be seen as a way of bringing about environmental change. There is no certain prediction about how lasting this dip in emissions will be. When the pandemic subsides, will carbon emissions come back extacly as before? Or could the changes we see today with the restrictions have a more persistent effect?
The fall of the Kosovo's government
By Emmanuel Jeanny
The motion of no confidence voted by the parliament this Wednesday with 82 MPs out to 115 could not happen in a worse period. Indeed, the country has to face, as many others around the world, the coronavirus crisis. The country has more than 90 cases confirmed and needs therefore to be organised to tackle the extension of the virus in the country. The motion was adopted following the protestation of the citizens that confined at their home, denouncing the lack of resources of the sanitary services.
After only 50 days of office, Albin Kurti became the first leader of a country to officially lose office during this crisis. The country since its independence in 2008 following a war of 1999 is confronted to a political instability. Indeed, the current president Hashim Thaçi who fought for the independence argues in favour of a dialogue with his Serbian neighbours.
Despite the government’s implementation of a series of measures to deal with the crisis, such as school and restaurant closures, curfews, … the president Thaçi declared that the state should be placed in a state of emergency that would, therefore, increase his powers. One of Kurti’s minister was sacked after agreeing with the president which led to the motion.
In terms of reaction in the world, the European countries are pretty shy, in a common communicate, France and Germany asked this motion to be reconsidered or postponed, considering essential the maintain of a government stable and operational to tackle this crisis. Ana Pisonero, the spokesperson for Neighbourhood and Enlargement in the European Commission has reacted saying that the vote of no-confidence puts Kosovo in a difficult political situation at a time of an unprecedented crisis caused by coronavirus.
The United State is one of the only countries in favour of this motion. Indeed, the interest in Kosovo concerns a deal between Serbia and Kosovo brokered by his administration, that would be attractive for the public relation of Trump’s administration.
Sources:
- Express
Advancements in the current negotiations for EU enlargement to Albania and North Macedonia
By Hélène Veysseyre
On 24 March 2020 the European Union decided to open membership talks with Albania and Macedonia. It is a political agreement which will need to be confirmed by a written procedure on 01 April 2020 and endorsed by EU leaders on 02 April 2020. It represents an historical event, especially as they have been potential candidates since the Thessaloniki European council summit in 2003. Hence, it comes as a symbol of future integration for the western Balkans.
Some countries originally vetoed those memberships talks such as Denmark and France. However, they decided to lift the veto, after important reforms within the two countries. Macedonia has been making reforms which justified the possibility of membership talks. In fact, Macedonia had a discord with Greece in regard to the name of the country after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. They both disputed the name Macedonia, as Greeks considered the name belonging to their cultural heritage, whereas Macedonians considered it was theirs. Thus, the two countries made a deal, the country was renamed the "Republic of North Macedonia" and in return Greece withdrew its previous opposition to allow the EU to approve the start of accession talks.
However, if Macedonia have made some reforms to be able to start membership talks, Albania still needs some reforms prior the formal opening of negotiations. Indeed, an electoral reform is needed to promote transparent funding of political parties as well as electoral campaigns. Furthermore, a judicial reform through a correct functioning of the constitutional court and high court is necessary, as well as a fulfill of anti-corruption and organized crime reforms. Besides those reforms, as some countries were strongly opposed to those new memberships, countries have imposed further accession rules, such as France which decided upon a stricter membership procedure which is reversible, through suspendable and stoppable negotiation. Thus, enlargement will from now on be subject to ‘stronger political steering, based on objective criteria and rigorous positive and negative conditionality, and reversibility’ as recognized by the draft declaration.
If this provisional accord isn’t in itself a guarantee to European Union membership, as Turkey have started negotiations in 2005 and is still not part of the bloc today, it is yet the first step towards enlarging the 27-member EU since Brexit. Hence, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, candidates currently negotiating their membership, will now welcome Albania and Macedonia, leaving behind Bosnia and Herzegovina, still waiting to become a candidate.
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