Integration Policies, Practices and Experiences : Greece Country Report

This report is part of the fifth Work Package of RESPOND and deals with issues related to refugee integration, aiming to present and discuss legislative measures and policies, the integration practices followed by state and non-state actors and the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees with regards to integration in Greece in the period 2011-2019. The report draws from the EU principles and key policy priorities on integration as they are shaped through a) the “Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the EU” which were adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs Council in November 2004 and b) the 2016 “Action Plan on the Integration of Third-country Nationals” that sets out policy priorities and the tools to support their implementation. The Migration and Social Integration Code (Law 4251/2014) is currently the basic law regulating integration in Greece, and it has addressed issues pertaining to residence permits and access to the labour market. Furthermore, two national strategies for the integration of third-country nationals were launched in 2013 and 2018 respectively. The research methodology used for this report has combined diverse methods. The review of the national legislation on integration issues was accompanied by a review of a series of reports by national and international organisations and NGOs. The practices of integration are analysed on the basis of the empirical material assembled during qualitative field research conducted mainly in Lesvos (and to a lesser extent in Athens) in the period June-December 2018 at a meso and micro level