Greece: A Frontline for the European Immigration Crisis

Greece has been generally been a country where people emigrate from not immigrate to. In the past years, many Albanians among other foreigners have flooded Greece. At first the Greek government praised their presence after the immense help they gave in building the infrastructures for the Athens Olympics. Now the Greek government has passed a law that will grant amnesty for illegal immigrants. According to William Horsley, the amnesty is greatly feared by immigrants. The new laws are hopeful to end uncontrolled immigration. Although this new law should grant amnesty to the nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants in Greece, many illegals feel that this new law does not include them and they must hide from the government. The steps that an illegal immigrant must go through to gain amnesty is quite extensive. They must back pay social security stamps for the time they have been in Greece, prove they have lived there for over a year, get their national identity papers stamped by the Albanian embassy, among many other obstacles. Many Albanian immigrants in particular feel that this will lead ultimately to deportation instead of the amnesty they desire.
Many Albanians say that have fled there because there is no longer work at home. In Athens there is even a Little Albania, with Albanians being able to buy newspapers in their language and many Albanians come to Athens each day to start construction for 30 Euros a day. Many of these construction employers enjoy the cheap labor and yet they refuse to pay the social security on these workers to keep them in Greece.
With the amnesty deadline quickly approaching (this December), the black market has begun to thrive. With the forging of documents anywhere form visas to health forms, anyone who can afford to stay will with the help of the black market. Ultimately, Greece's new law for amnesty for its illegal immigrants is more or less turning into a race to be able to stay and the people who can afford it coming out on top.

EU Causing Social Dumping?

Outsourcing has been a pressing issue for countries all over the world. According to Dimitrios M. Mihail, a professor of Business Administration at the University of Macedonia, a lot of outsourcing is causing social dumping. For example many apparel businesses in Northern Greece are moving their companies to Bulgaria where they can rehire their previous Greek workers. These Greek workers are the same workers that the companies previous had to laid off in order to move the company to Bulgaria. Once the workers are hired in Bulgaria are humiliated by the wages and working conditions. Mihail argues in his article "Globalisation and Corporate Codes of Labor Conduct in the EU" that the EU and its labor restrictions are causing companies to find ways to cheat this system by going to non EU countries to run their businesses. As a result or the outsourcing, the workers are the ones who ultimately lose the most. In this article Mihail gives a lot of suggestions to stop this, but at the end of his suggestions he counterargues them and leaves the reader not knowing what anyone should do. A few suggestions he makes are that the WTO or another global organization make labor laws for all countries. He then says that this may be too idealistic and that perhaps individual companies should just want to have high labor standards and governments could encourage the consumption of goods from those countries. Mihail goes on to say that this may not work because we can not leave something as pertinent as labor rights to a few companies that decide to do the right thing. By the end of the article after feeling quite exasperated by this whole issue Mihail finally enlightens the reader; he states that perhaps we should leave this issue to the laborers themselves and let them create unions that will hold the companies to these standards. After reading the whole article I decided that in the end I am not sure what can be done, but this is a pressing issue that is in dire need for a solution because social dumping is going to continue to occur without it.

Greece-Turkey Pipeline to End Russia's Dominance on Gas and Oil

Currently Greece and Turkey are working on a pipeline across the Aegean Sea that could privode the EU with an alternative supply of gas and oil. What does this mean for the EU, Russia, and the rest of the world?

Russia is currently the world's biggest gas and oil producer and according to The Turkish Daily News, "...accounts for more than 40% of EU gas imports and 80 % of Greece's fas-growing gas needs.:" America has often accused Moscow and its engery giant OAO Gazprom of using their oil and gas pricing as a weapon against nearby states like Georgia and Belarus. So what does this mean for Russia? It means that Russia is going to make a rather large effort to be a part of the Greek-Turkish pipeline. Currently Andreas Christodoulakis, a spokesman for Greek gas company DEPA, declared that there is no current agreement between Greece and Russia pertaining to the pipeline but that Russia continues to press for access to the Greek Interconnector.

For Greece and Turkey, the pipeline could make both countries "regional power brokers". The Interconnector would diverisfy Europe's fuel imports by being one of the only non-Russian options. While Russia has a lot to lose with the pipeline, Greece and Turkey have everything to gain. So with this new trade option, an almost monopoly would be elimiated and a more competetive market would be put into place. This has the potential to lower gas and oil costs not only in Europe, but throughout the world because when there is a product in such high demand like gas and oil, a competition can greatly benefit the consumer. The European Union has such faith in the Turkey-Greece Interconnector that it has been willing to fund over 40% of the costs that will ultimately be over $320 million dollars.

So is this freer market going to be better for the EU, Greece, Turkey, and consumers? That is still yet to be determined, but a little competition always made for an interesting fight.