Understanding Greek Immigration Policy

This chapter traces the undulating development of Greek immigration policy since 1991, focusing on the 1996-1997 regularization of illegal immigrants. It explores the incongruity between strong anti-immigrant public sentiment, and the pursuit of relatively liberal legalization policies. While many theories explain recent trends in migration policy as a policy of various international factors, it is domestic politics that have shaped the Greek case. The socialist (PASOK, or Panhellenic Socialist Movement) government has made migration an economic priority, discounting social consequences important to the Greek electorate. The government has been able to distance itself from public opinion because the Greek political system has many elements of a cartel party system. These features strengthen the ties of the party in government to the state, lower the risk of successful third-party emergence, and thus weaken the link between policy and public opinion. Immigration is an issue on which this distancing is possible because it does not fit neatly on the right-left political spectrum