A new immigration bill was submitted to the Greek parliament for debate on 14th February. The bill that will be voted in the upcoming weeks, aims to simplify the residence permit application process and facilitate labour market access for migrants. The same document, however, abolishes the right to vote for immigrants. According to the Interior Minister Yiannis Michelakis, the proposed provisions are enforcing a recent decision by the Council of State. It stipulates that the 2010 citizenship law granting greater voting rights to immigrants is unconstitutional. MIPEX argues that the new restrictive criteria will undermine the conditions for integration in Greece, undoing most of its major advancements on integration since 2007.
A major change in Greece’s MIPEX score
Between 2007 and 2010, Greece made significant progress on political participation. It opened political opportunities for migrants that were found to be average for most MIPEX countries and following the trends in other new countries of immigration. If the envisaged provisions come into force, the political participation rights in Greece would become slightly unfavourable for immigrant integration. The abolition of the right to vote and stand for elections would lower Greece’s MIPEX score on political participation from 40 to 31 and give Greece a score on electoral rights of zero.
Read more...
