Page 1 Migration in Greece at a glance Ruby Gropas and Anna Triandafyllidou October 2005 S UMMARY Greece’s immigrant population, including aliens and co-ethnic returnees such as Pontic Greeks and ethnic Greek Albanians, reaches just over one million people. This represents about 9% of the total resident population, a strikingly high percentage for a country that until only twenty years ago was a migration sender rather than host. Immigration policy in Greece was quick to develop in terms of putting into practice stricter border controls and other enforcement measures. However, there has been a significant time lag in designing and implementing a more comprehensive policy framework that includes the regularisation of undocumented aliens, and that aims toward the integration of this population across all sectors and areas of the host country. Approximately three quarters of the immigrant population currently has legal status (work and stay permits). It is interesting to note that most immigrants have entered Greece illegally and have survived in the country ‘without papers’ for (frequently consecutive) periods ranging from a few months to several years. The prolonged undocumented status of many migrants, and the policy vacuum that lasted for over a decade has not facilitated active civic participation on the part of immigrants in Greek public life. Recently adopted immigration legislation has been criticised for continuing to ignore the majority of the country’s illegal migrant population and effectively hinders approximately 70% of immigrants from obtaining residence permits. With regard to the media, overall, it has been inclined to privilege the perpetuation of negative prejudices and only recently have there been initiatives or measures targeting xenophobic attitudes and perceptions of Greeks towards foreigners. There are more and more efforts, largely supported by initiatives from the EU, aiming to promote tolerance, cultural pluralism and to bring forward the positive aspects of migration. Migrants have contributed to the Greek economy’s boost over the past decade. A sensitive tension that needs to be addressed is between a rather hostile public opinion towards immigration with the need for an inflow of new citizens to counterbalance Greece’s aging population, and consequently the future viability of the country’s social security system. Immigrant activism in mainstream associations like trade unions or political parties is barely existent. The main reasons for the lack of civic activism include the insecure legal status of many immigrant workers, their mistrust towards the Greek state (which has been very ambivalent in the implementation of regularisation and other immigrant policies), their lack of time and resources to devote to activities other than paid work. This overview is based on the Country Report prepared for the project POLITIS: Building Europe with New Citizens? An Inquiry into the Civic Participation of Naturalised Citizens and Foreign Residents in 25 Countries funded by the European Commission, Research DG, Key Action Improving the Socio Economic Knowl- edge Base. The full report along with reports on all 25 EU Member States can be downloaded from the project website: www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe