2025 Concordia Annual Summit

Remarks: Sevi Voloudaki, Deputy Minister for Migration and Asylum of Greece

  • Democracy, Security, & Geopolitical Risk
The Hon. Sevasti Voloudaki

Session Summary

Important
Quotations

"Migration is one of the most defining and complex phenomena of our time. It is a humanitarian challenge, an economic necessity, and increasingly a matter of geopolitical tension, strategical calculation, and ideological confrontation."
The Hon. Sevasti Voloudaki

Key
Takeaways

  • Migration as a Global Challenge: Migration has evolved into “one of the most defining and complex phenomenon of our time”, functioning as a humanitarian challenge, economic necessity, and source of geopolitical tension where traditional distinctions between forced and voluntary movement are “blurring under the weight of prolonged crisis, climate change, demographic imbalances, and new forms of state behavior.” 

 

  • Future Migration Reality: “The future brings more mobility, not less”, with climate change serving as “a major driver of displacement in the coming decades.” The challenge is “no longer whether migration will occur, but how we’ll manage it ethically, strategically, and effectively.” 

 

  • Integration as Security: Effective integration serves as “a tool for long-term security and economic development.” When vulnerable groups lack stability, they “become vulnerable to exploitation and criminality”, while “public safety grows when vulnerable groups are integrated with supervision and support.” 

 

  • Legal Migration Benefits: “Legal migration pathways essential to addressing pressing labor shortages in agriculture, tourism, construction, and green technologies”, and when “managed legally and responsibly, [migration] strengthens the economy, supports growth and offers migrants the chance to build dignified lives.” 

Action
Items

  • Policy Framework: Develop comprehensive strategies that combine deterrence with protection, national interest with European solidarity, and legal migration with labor market needs, while strengthening return mechanisms aligned with human rights.

 

  • Protection Systems: Invest in child protection by providing safe accommodation, legal aid, psychological and health support, and integration into education and vocational training systems, and establish predictable and enforceable systems balancing security with protection.

 

  • Strategic Cooperation: Address instrumentalization of flows on EU external borders through coordinated responses and enhance European solidarity and burden-sharing mechanisms.

Long-term Preparedness: Build climate migration preparedness in anticipation of rising displacement and prioritize foresight over fear in migration policy development.