EU migration policy | Border-industrial complex: profits with Fortress Europe

Security forces stand guard at the “Reception and Identification Center” Kara Tepe on the island of Lesbos. Photo: Louisa GOULIAMAKI / POOL / AFP Who benefits from Europe's borders? At least 289 private-sector companies, a new report from the Legal Center Lesvos shows. It takes a closer look at the European Union's border industry. The authors of the report examined 554 contracts between EU agencies, Greek ministries and 289 contractors from the period 2020 to 2022. These contracts alone have a total value of 1.115 billion euros. "The report addresses the fact that the practices of border violence are financed, procured, tendered and audited and that this administrative regime is not a by-product of border violence, but one of its infrastructures and drivers," write the authors.

The report focuses on Lesbos. The Greek island has gained sad notoriety since 2015 at the latest due to the inhumane conditions in the Moria refugee camp. In 2020, Moria largely burned down and a new temporary camp was built in the Kara Tepe district. The reporting has since died down.

The conditions in the camps on Lesbos remain precarious and are becoming increasingly difficult to understand due to increasing militarization and control. What was previously called the “Reception and Identification Center” was converted into a “Closed Controlled Access Center” in 2022 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this way, the informal Moria camp of makeshift huts between olive groves became a strictly controlled, closed camp made of white living containers, surrounded by barbed wire, walls and secured with entry controls.

But Kara Tepe is also a thorn in the side of the government. It is close to the capital of Lesbos, Mytilini, so a new camp is being built in the forest in Vastria. It is located on the eastern side of the island, far from any infrastructure and in a wildfire danger zone. Construction work started in 2021, but shortly before completion, further construction was stopped by a court in August 2023 for environmental reasons. The warehouse in Vastria is now 95 percent complete - but the legal and political dispute over completion continues.

Without the participation of private companies, these camps could not be built and operated. This is a central message of the new report from the Legal Center Lesvos. On the island, the authors identify 15 contractors whose companies were involved in the construction, operation and management of the camps between 2020 and 2022, as well as 22 property owners who leased land for camps on Lesvos. The profit generated from this during the investigation period was around 124 million euros.

For example, contracts for catering in camps across Greece were awarded to private catering companies. According to the report, on Lesbos alone they generated revenue of 56 million euros between 2020 and 2022 - despite persistent, documented deficiencies in food supplies in the camps. These lucrative orders led to the local catering company Elaitis Catering becoming one of the largest economic players on the island of Lesbos.

The conclusion: "On Lesvos, the border-industrial complex has demonstrably produced systematic human rights violations, the extent of which would be impossible without significant private sector involvement." Profits would be made from the violation of the rights and at the expense of the lives of migrants.

The authors show this not only in the private sector involvement in the construction and management of the camps on Lesbos. Another example in the report is the rejection of refugees that violates international law. The Greek Coast Guard systematically carries out such pushbacks at the Greek borders with EU support and sometimes with the participation of Frontex. According to the report, this practice is also based on the cooperation of private companies. These provide European agencies such as Frontex or organizations such as Interpol with extensive surveillance technology, land vehicles, boats and life rafts, as well as ropes and cables. In the reporting period, the authors identified corresponding contracts with a total value of at least 370 million euros.

Surveillance technology plays a central role both in the camps and in pushbacks. The closed control and reception centers on Lesbos use the “Hyperion” and “Centaur” surveillance systems, biometric identification, app-based communication and algorithmic behavior analysis. According to the report, this means they are violating data protection rights.

According to the report, general contracts for border surveillance and operational technology accounted for 44 percent (234 million euros) of the EU framework contracts awarded, which included purchases of drones and manned aircraft by Frontex.

The report also raises numerous questions regarding the transparency of procurement procedures. Small and medium-sized companies make up around 70 percent of contractors. However, over 80 percent of the total funds awarded go to companies or mergers in which at least one large company is involved. Those from richer countries such as Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom received the largest contracts. These are often awarded in non-public procedures.

According to the authors, the research on Lesbos pinpoints the responsibilities at a specific location, but the companies' traces extended far beyond the island. Several actors and companies identified in the Border Industry Database are also involved in other regimes of surveillance and colonial violence, such as the surveillance and military infrastructure that Israel uses to oppress Palestinians. The authors therefore see their publicly accessible border industry database as a tool to hold states, companies and other private actors who are complicit in violence at the borders accountable. It is intended to support research, documentation and legal disputes and remains a work in progress.

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