State institutions in Greece present a discourse that portrays migration as manageable and integration as possible if handled correctly, while also acknowledging the challenges. However, conversations with police and officials suggest the issue is controversial and realities on the ground differ from the official narrative. Further research could explore discrepancies between discourse and practice, different discourses for domestic and international audiences, and Greek perceptions of unfair EU migration policies.

1. Greek perspectives on
migration: State institutions,
the police and their agents

2. Our ‘odyssee’ through Athens…

3. The contact points
• Immigration Offices (City of Athens)
• Area north of Omonia
• Omonia Police Station
• Aliens Department Offices (Petrou Ralli)
• Athens Police Headquarters
• Ministry of Public Order and Protection of
the Citizen
• Ministry of the Interior

4. General observations and
perceptions
• No official commenting without official
permission
• Very hesitant and insecure reactions on
the topic of migration
• Sarcasm → ‘Ridiculisation’ of the issue
and of doing resarch on it
• At times a frustrating experience…

5. Aims
• Original aim: speak to officials/civil
servants and listen to their story, find out
how they perceive immigration and
experience their work with migrants. But
this was difficult.
• Most data from documents: state
institutions officially paint a “pretty picture”.
• Aim of this presentation: share what we
could find, interpretation, starting points for
possible further research.

6. Stories from a policeman…
• Stories from a policeman
• Further questions
• Methodological remarks

7. Rough data; themes that appeared in
the conversation:
• “It is really hard, but I cannot do anything! I
cannot do anything about it!”
• Hard job
• His colleagues and his position among
them
• Attitudes towards police
• ‘Everybody just cares for his own ass’

8. Interesting would be to further unravel..
- Main motivations to join the police,
- Attitudes in society, peers > implications?
- Processes of decision making during
working hours
- Evaluations on the chosen ‘carreer’

9. Methodology
• Building rapport
• Access
• Being in ‘real places’
• Chaos and messyness of fieldwork
• Perhaps..
Together with a lot of hard work sometimes
one needs a good dose of ordinary luck..

10. • ‘After the robbery, however, what struck me most forcibly
was the policewoman’s insistence on trying to lay the
blame on generalized ‘foreigners’, usually understood to
be people of colour, Middle Easterners, or refugees from
the impoverished Balkan nations to the north.’
• (Herzfeld 2011:22)

11. How do countries represent themselves
to foreigners?
• National narrative: tentative comparison of
Albanian and Greek cases.
• Possible “official discourse” in Greece:
legitimization and contrast with other narratives
(xenophobic/nationalistic)?

12. Quotes
Municipality of Athens website:
• “The municipal administration does not view the migrant issue
as a problem but rather a reality which can bring about myriad
positive consequences for society as a whole.”
• “The City of Athens has taken the initiative, adopting policies
and implementing programmes which reinforce social
cohesion, support harmonious co-existence and promote the
integration of migrants.”
• “Migration is not a problem if it is correctly managed.”
• “We are creating an Athens in which Greek society ties in
harmoniously with migrant communities, a city where our
children speak the same language, the language of
understanding and common goals.”
• “We are transforming Athens into a global multicultural
metropolis.”

13. Statement of Minister of Public Order and Citizen
Protection
Nikolaos Dendias, 101st Session of the IOM Council Geneva, 27 November
2012
• “We are in a reversing course. We have demonstrated the determination of the Greek
people to correct past mistakes, to fight populism and extremism, to make a
spectacular come back.”
• “The Greek Government is establishing an effective, humane oriented response to
the current migration challenges.”
• “New Asylum Service … first quarter of 2013 … independent and will be operated by
civil servants who are being actually trained by specialists in the field.”
• “New First Reception … first semester of 2013 and will have the sole task of
screening irregular migrants to identify their identity and nationality, to register them,
to provide, if needed, medical and psychological support, to inform them on their
obligations and rights. Special care is taken for vulnerable groups.“
• “The on-going political and economic challenges in Greece have [been] affecting both
governmental structures and key stakeholders dealing with migration as well as the
number of migrants entering the country.“
• “Achieve much more if … jointly pursued on a multilateral level, than on an individual
level by each member state.”
• “Deal with dangerous and racist attitudes observed in the Greek society …
establishment of Special Departments in the Police Directorates of Athens and
Thessaloniki to deal and prevent racist attacks and to investigate immediately all
relevant complaints. The Presidential Decree has taken into consideration proposals
of the National Committee for Human Rights.“

14. Press release Minister of Public Order
and Citizen Protection 9 April 2012
• “The coordinated State is here in order to protect
the rights of all citizens, regardless of nationality,
race and creed, provided that they are legally
established in this country.”
• “On the other hand … we no longer can face this
major human crisis which is currently spreading in
our society.
It is a humanitarian crisis. This is how we view it. It
is a human tragedy and we cannot bear it. We are
a small country facing a crisis and those who first
and foremost feel the brunt of the phenomenon of
illegal immigration are the legal immigrants living
in our country.”

15. Discourse
• Economic and political crisis, small country, limited
resources, human crisis/tragedy, new system being
developed and implemented, manage correctly and
humanely, comparison with other EU countries.
• Legitimizing discourse of past and present bad
conditions, hope for a better future.
• Greece as hospitable, helpful and harmonious;
promoting human rights; migration not a problem,
manage it correctly; promote integration and social
cohesion, common goals.
Counter discourse to xenophobic/racist narrative or to
the rhetoric of “cleansing”.

16. Interview Angelos Syrigos
General Secretary of Population and Social
Cohesion
• Legitimizing discourse: huge number of
migrants, high costs, EU, Turkey,
economic and humanitarian crisis, reforms
and improvements.
• Counter discourse: migration can be good;
racist attacks and cleansing operations are
bad.
• Overlap: bad things, but situation makes it
difficult to handle.

17. Other findings…
• Conversations with policemen, observations
how they treat migrants; talks with people
working for Ministry.
• Got some impressions: controversial topic,
hesitant to talk about the subject, not sure
what they can and cannot say.
maybe afraid of not telling “official story” to
us, foreigners.

18. Summary
• State institutions point to improvement of
situation, but migration seemingly is a
controversial topic among people
working for state institutions.
• Moreover, reality is very different: Xenios
Zeus, violence, detention centres etc.

19. Directions for further research
• Motivations and experiences of the people working as individuals
with migrants, but all together make up “the state apparatus”
(bottom-up approach, face-to-face relations).
• Discrepancies: between “official” discourse and own opinion;
between what people/governments say and what they do/actual
situation; between different state-levels.
• Different discourses for national and for international use.
• Different discourses and counter-discourses within state institutions
as well as society.
• Discourses found in policy.
• Possible politicisation of state institutions.

20. From the local to the ‘global’ –
‘Athenian’ perceptions of EU
migration policies
Local/regional ‘immigration crisis’ -> which
international relations/structures are
underlying to this problem?
→ Unsufficient data but general perception
of ‘unfairness’ and inefficience of Dublin II

21. Further research questions
• How could a ‘fair’, practical, human, sustainable
and feasible framework for a common European
migration system look like?
• Which institutional and reception structures
could make the militarized EU borders obsolete?
• Which organizational scheme (e.g. relocation?)
could allow for a more genuine ‘sharing of the
‘burden’’?
• How can we ‘convince’ EU member states’
governments of the ‘urgency to act’?