From the 2015 "Migrant Crisis" to European Border Governance: The Case of Irregular Migration Control and Management Policies in Greece

As a result of the so-called "migrant crisis" which reached its peak in 2015, the external borders of the EU seem to be in an unprecedented, or at least historical, situation. The migration flows resulting from the various conflicts and politically unstable situations in the Near and Middle East have made the issue of migrant smuggling particularly salient. Since 2016, this has manifested itself in the creation of new dedicated institutions, such as the European Migrant Smuggling Centre (emsc), but also in the intensification of the role and involvement of Europol and Frontex in this area. Thus, beyond the lack of elements that finally allow us to objectify the impact of these public policies on the control of irregular migration, we lay the groundwork for an analysis of the political effects of migration control on public action and the model of governance that the latter conveys and supports. In this proposal, we argue that this "crisis" highlights in an unprecedented way the links that exist between immigration and security policies, thus explaining the non-existence of emergency mechanisms for the management of irregular migration. Indeed, by focusing on the case of Greece- a country emblematically affected by this "crisis"-we will show that, while they succeed in reducing irregular migratory flows, they are ineffective in eliminating the smuggling networks, and that EU policies on smuggling reveal the constant reconfiguration of the exercise of political sovereignty, deepening the logics and dynamics of the externalisation of border control. The proposal is based on semistructured interviews conducted in 2022 and early 2023 with Greek and European high-profile actors from the National Police, the Coast Guard, Europol and Frontex.