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Greece: Asylum and immigration (1)

01 January 1991

Greece: Asylum and immigration
artdoc November=1995

Unions call for legalisation on immigrant workers
The Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) has urged the
government to grant legal status to illegal immigrants as the
only way to "normalise" the labour market and avoid racial
hatred. The GSEE wants a committee to be set up, made up of
representatives of the employment, public order and foreign
ministries, as well as of trade unions.
GCSE estimates 51,000 foreigners are currently working
legally in Greece, 60 per cent of whom are from European
countries. In 1994, the number of illegal immigrants exceeded
400,000, of whom half were Albanians before the mass expulsions
in October last year (Balkan News 29.1.95).

Border dispute with Albania after police killing
A Greek policeman has shot and killed an illegal Albanian worker
in the region of Florina, northwest Greece. The incident
happened when a group of 11 Albanians were arrested by a Greek
police patrol. The day before, an Albanian was shot and wounded
for having refused, according to the Greek police, to comply with
an order to stop. But the Albanian authorities affirmed that the
man was shot when he was 10 metres inside their territory
(Liberation 27.2.95 cited in Migration Newssheet March 1995).

IRR European Race Audit, no 13, April 1995. Contact: Liz Fekete,
Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS.
Tel: 0171 837 0041