Fortress Europe Page

Fortress Europe

For the past 30 years the countries of the European Union have collectively built over 2000 km of  border fencing, some of which are still under construction, and more of them are planned to be erected in the near future. The many kilometers of walls under construction underline the double standards in the context of a Union policy that was founded to build bridges across borders, but at the same time has begun to invest heavily in securitising external borders. The creation of a free movement zone, the Schengen area, which allows people within Europe to move seamlessly within its borders, has at the same time exacerbated the problems of external border controls. The creation of Schengen has, as it were, shifted the burden of responsibility from looking after and policing internal borders to strengthening the security infrastructure of external borders.
In recent years, more and more metaphors have begun to be used to describe the situations taking place on the European Union's external borders. One of the most commonly used terms at the moment is Fortress Europe, carrying a reference to the  occupation of the continent during the war. The term has gained in popularity in the last decade. Currently, it is very often encountered in the context of the state of migration policy in the European Union, and the highly complex processes of applying for refugee status within it. The term simultaneously refers to physical barriers and walls, the number of which has increased considerably over the last thirty years. The steady influx of people from Africa and the Middle East into Europe has helped to reinforce the meaning and popularity of this metaphor, as well as related metaphors.

Security infrastructures - walls, fences.

According to the statistics published by the European Parliament in a briefing entitled Walls and fences at EU borders published in October 2022, the total length of border barriers in EU countries increased from 315 km in 2014 to 2048 km in the year 2022. These include both permanent and temporary structures, winding between the countries:
  • Spain built fences around Ceuta and Melilla on the border with Morocco between 1993 and 1996, and these structures were later extended and reinforced. The fences stretch for 7.8 km around Ceuta and 13 km around Melilla.
  • In Calais, France and the UK built barriers at the entrance to the English Channel, funded by the UK. Since 2015, 65 km of rigid panels have been installed in the area of Calais.
  • Lithuania built a 71.5 km fence on the border with Belarus in 1999/2000, which was extended to 502 km in the year 2022. In 2017/2018 Lithuania also built a 45 km fence around Kaliningrad.
  • Greece built a fence on its border with Turkey, in the Evros river valley in 2012. At that point this section of the fence was 12.5 km long. Another section, of the length of 40 km, was erected in August 2021, in an area known as Maritsa and Meric. Greece plans to expand its walls by another 220 km.
  • Northern Macedonia erected several streaks of fences on its border with Greece totalling at 37 km in 2015.
  • Bulgaria built a 33 km barbed wire fence on its border with Turkey, expanding it to 235 km in 2017.
  • Hungary built 158 km of fencing on its border with Serbia between 2015 and 2017.
  • Estonia announced plans to build a 115 km fence on its border with Russia in 2015, the construction of which started in 2018, and a 25 km section being completed by 2021, with another 39 km being under construction. Part of the border is covered with a temporary fence.
  • In 2015, Latvia started the construction of its barrier on the border with Russia, 93 km of which were completed by 2019. Latvia, in August 2022, announced plans to extend it to 148.8 km. Latvia also built a temporary fence on its border with Belarus, which is said to be replaced with a temporary one by 2024.
  • Norway built a short fence of 200 meters on the border with Russia in 2016.
  • Poland built a 186 km long steel wall on its border with Belarus in 2021.
  • Finland announced plans to build a fence on its border with Russia in October 2022.
  • The walls and fences don’t stop people from moving, and aren’t solving the problem - which lies at the roots of the decisions of people to flee their motherlands, and be forced to move to a safer environment. The walls have also led to numerous injuries and deaths of people trying to find peace on the other side of them. They also force people to take the more dangerous paths, often leading through bodies of water – rivers, lakes, swamps and wetlands.

Why do people migrate?

People have migrated and continue to migrate for a number of different reasons, mainly to improve the quality of their lives, as well as the lives of their families. To be more specific, the reasons for migration can include: better education prospects, career improvement, religion, poverty, political repression, environmental factors, war or conflict.

What is irregular migration?

Human migration refers to the movement of people from one region to another. There are various types of migration, including internal migration (moving within a country), external migration (moving to a different country). Migration can be permanent, temporary, voluntary or forced.

Irregular migration refers to crossing a border without proper authority, or violating conditions for entering another country. There is a difference between irregular entry and irregular stay – a person can enter into a country without documentation, or in a way which is violating the conditions for entering (and thus the entry is considered irregular), but can later acquire legal documentation and their stay would be considered regular. On the other hand, a person can enter a country regularly, for example with a visa, but if they overstay the visa their stay becomes irregular.

Migrant / refugee / asylum seeker? What is the difference?

An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence and applies for an asylum – that is an international protection – in a country that isn’t their country of residence. After the person applies for an asylum, and the application is reviewed with a positive result, the asylum seeker becomes a refugee.

The difference between migrant and refugee is that in the first case, the person has chosen to move, rather than was forced to do so. The case is, however, not that simple – many people choose to migrate because their homes have become dangerous to live in, they might be fleeing from drought, economic collapse or political repressions. However, if they cannot prove that they are in direct danger of conflict or persecution, they are not considered to be granted refugee status.

According to the Office of United Nations High Commisioner for refugees (UNHCR) refugees are people who are “fleeing armed conflict or persecution” and “for who denial of asylum has potential deadly consequences.”

What are migratory routes?

Migratory routes refer to the paths taken while migrating. In the case of irregular human migration, they can either refer to the countries passed on the way to the destination, or the specific ways of entering a given country.

The migratory situation in 2015

In 2015 Europe saw an increased movement of refugees and migrants wanting to enter and apply for asylum – the number was 1.8 million people.

The people wanting to enter were mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Nigeria. Because of reasons such as political unrest, wars, terrorist insurgencies and long running human abuses, the number of people wanting to seek refuge in the European Union began to increase already in 2010. Until 2014 many people fleeing their countries of origin had found help in various countries nearby, including Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. In 2014 these countries stopped accepting asylum seekers, which led to the rise in numbers of people fleeing to Europe.

Various European countries had different responses, ranging from building security infrastructures at the borders, so that the migrants and refugees cannot cross, or granting asylum to numerous people, and offering temporary housing, food and health care.

The results of the migratory situation of 2015.

The increased number of arrivals into the EU has exposed the dysfunctionalities in responding to large migration movements, additionally highlighting the incoherence of the European migration policies, which differ from country to country – some focus on border security, and others on the assimilation of migrants and refugees.

The migratory situation since.

As a response to the 2015 migratory situation various European countries had started to build various forms of walls and fences, some temporary – using concertina wires, and some permanent – using steel. The EU countries increased their border controls and security infrastructures, as well as their regulations regarding asylum procedures.

The influx of migrants in 2021

In October 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on Belarus as a response to the falsifications that occurred during the Belarusian presidential elections that year, as well as to the intimidation and violent repression of peaceful demonstrators, opposition members and journalists. Further economic sanctions were imposed by the EU following the arrest of a Belarusian opposition activist, Raman Pratasevich, by Belarusian services in May 2021.

Following the restrictive measures adopted by the EU (various forms of political / economical sanctions) in June 2021 Belarus started to organise flights and internal travel to facilitate the transit of migrants towards the EU – first to Lithuania, and then to Latvia and Poland. The majority of the migrants are from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.