GREEK ROMA: ILLEGAL CAMPS SQUALID -- BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 002149

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV GR
SUBJECT: GREEK ROMA: ILLEGAL CAMPS SQUALID -- BUT
ALTERNATIVES FEW

Classified By: Political Counselor Robin Quinville
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Roma in Greece -- both citizens and illegal migrants
-- face increasing efforts by Greek authorities and
businesses to evict them from squalid squatter camps around
the country. Most Greeks have little sympathy for what they
see either as a "lifestyle choice" or an intractable,
unsolvable problem. When evictions occur, few provisions are
made for alternative housing or social assistance, even for
Greek citizen Roma. Widespread social exclusion leaves Roma
little access to effective remedy. To its credit, the GOG
has established a special government housing loan program for
Roma; however, some local authorities have (mis)used it as a
tool to move Roma out of their region. In our on-going
dialogue with the GOG on human rights issues, we are
encouraging synergy with OSCE, EU and NGO efforts in order to
provide practical examples of "best practices" the GOG can
implement. Otherwise, modern tourists seeking Greece's
timeless civilization will continue making another timeless
discovery: poverty and discrimination within sight of the
Acropolis.

END SUMMARY.

BRUTAL CONDITIONS IN ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS
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2. (SBU) The Athens neighborhood of Votanikos is soon to be
home to Athens' newest soccer stadium and upscale shopping
mall. However, the land on which these enterprises will sit
is currently illegally occupied by several hundred families
of mostly immigrant Albanian Roma, living in the wretched
conditions. Near-naked children run around caked in dirt.
Unemployed adults sit idly on door steps with nothing to do,
surrounded by pools of fetid water after a rain or choked by
dust (the slum had no running water or electricity). These
families are at the very bottom of Greek society, guilty of
being both Roma and Albanian illegal migrants.


3. (C) To make way for construction, the Athens police,
landowners, construction workers and other unknown private
actors have, over the past few months, resorted to various
tactics to drive the Roma squatters off the land. Police and
others have ordered them to vacate. Representatives of the
landowner/construction companies have showed up in force and
told Roma to leave -- or else. And in still other cases,
some businessmen have paid Roma families up to one thousand
Euro to vacate the property immediately (a tough deal to turn
down, but no long-term solution). The problem, however, is
that none of these efforts have offered alternatives for
these families once they leave Votanikos, as all parties
agree they must.

INTERIOR MINISTRY: "ROMA CHOOSE THEIR LIFESTYLE"
-------------- ---


4. (C) The Ministry of Interior's Secretary General
Patroklos Georgiadis told us in July that some people (i.e.,
Roma) simply choose to live this way. He argued that there
were two kinds of Roma at Votanikos: indigenous Greek Roma
and foreign, illegal aliens. The former, he said, are
entitled to every benefit that other Greek citizens are
entitled to. The latter, however, were not; they were
illegal aliens and subject to deportation. But, Georgiadis
noted, Greece's deportation system is severely overburdened.
Georgiadihts, but oQ --------------


5. (C) Greece does have a modest government program of
funding to assist Roma in finding housing; it is designed to
assist Roma families to receive housing loans of 60,000 Euro.
But it is subject to misuse. The city of Nea Halicarnassus
on the island of Crete thinks it has found a solution to
their "Roma problem." Taking advantage of the federal
government program, the mayor got virtually all 130 families
in the local Roma camp to agree that they would vacate their
shantytown homes once they received the housing loan. The
local municipal government pressured the Interior Ministry to
approve all of the loans, then set about destroying the
shantytown with bulldozers, according to press accounts. But
one leader of the Roma community at Nea Halicarnassus told
poloff on July 10 that most Roma either didn't know what they
were signing when they agreed to the mayor's scheme or didn't

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understand that the 60,000 Euro was not enough money for them
to buy anything in the vicinity. The local newspaper, Kriti,
reported the Deputy Mayor's boast that most Roma would have
to leave the island as they would not be able to afford a
home on Crete for 60,000 Euro. In speaking with us, the
Deputy Mayor admitted the remark, but denied any racist
intent.


6. (C) MOI SecGen Georgiadis confirmed that the government's
housing loan program faced several valid problems. Some Roma
were trying to receive the housing loan more than once; some
were using different names for multiple applications, and
others were applying twice through their unmarried partners
or live-in girlfriends. Georgiadis claimed that the
Ministry's technology was still not sufficiently developed to
screen for double applications. Other Roma, he said, were
receiving loans, purchasing properties with the funds and
then renting out the new home while they continued to live in
their shantytown flats. Finally, it was difficult for those
families most in need of housing loans -- nomadic Roma -- to
qualify even for the government's reduced-standard program.
If they did qualify and received a home, nomadic Roma would
eventually leave it when they moved on to another part of
Greece or beyond, Georgiadis said.

DEALING WITH VOTANIKOS: IF THERE'S A WILL, IS THERE A WAY?
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Georgiadis told us that Votanikos was an issue
discussed by both his office and the Mayor's office; both
were looking for equitable solutions. Asked about specifics,
however, he suggested they were still only in "preliminary
discussions" and "all will come together to discuss the
problem" at an unknown date and time in the future. He
readily agreed to keep us informed of such steps when (and
if) they do occur. As of late October, no such information
was available from his office.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) In our discussions with Georgiadis and others, we
have cited examples of how other countries -- such as Ireland
and the U.K. -- have dealt more effectively with similar
issues. We have argued that Greece has an opportunity to
distinguish itself within the European Union by providing
increased protection for its Roma population on an issue that
is garnering increasing attention, both in Greece and
internationally. To date, however, the Greek government has
taken few tangible steps, either on the specific issue of
housing or on the larger issue of the Roma population's
social exclusion. While complaints about Roma illegally
squatting on privately held land are legitimate, the GoG has
thus far done little to provide effective alternative housing
solutions or assistance. We continue to raise this issue
with GOG officials; the head of the U.S. delegation to the
September OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in
Warsaw raised it as well. Our challenge: to get GOG
officials to devote both political will and resources to a
stereotyped population that few Greeks recognize as fellow
citizens. Our strategy: to encourage synergy with OSCE, EU
and NGO efforts -- giving the GOG examples of practical "best
practices" it can implement. Otherwise, modern tourists
seeking Greece's ancient civilization will continue making
another timeless discovery: poverty and discrimination
within sight of the Acropolis.
COUNTRYMAN