Shaping the Balkan corridor: Development and changes in the migration route 2015–16
| Published date | 01 October 2021 |
| Author | Jana Abikova,Wojciech Piotrowicz |
| Date | 01 October 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12828 |
248
|
International Migration. 2021;59:248–265.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 22 De cember 2019
|
Revised: 28 Septem ber 2020
|
Accepted: 11 Novembe r 2020
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12828
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Shaping the Balkan corridor: Development and
changes in the migration route 2015–16
Jana Abikova1,2| Wojciech Piotrowicz1
1Hanken Schoo l of Economics, Depa rtment
of Marketing, S upply Chain Manage ment
and Social Res ponsibility, Human itarian
Logistics a nd Supply Chain Res earch
(HUMLOG) Inst itute, Helsinki, F inland
2Faculty of Busi ness Administra tion, Prague
Universit y of Economics and Busi ness,
Prague, Czechia
Correspondence
Jana Abikova, H anken School of Econom ics,
Departm ent of Marketing, Sup ply Chain
Management an d Social Responsib ility,
Humanitar ian Logistics and S upply Chain
Research (HU MLOG) Institute, He lsinki,
Finland.
Email: jana.abikova@hanken.fi
Funding information
Academy of Fin land, Grant/Award Nu mber:
322188
Abstract
In 2015– 16, Europe witnessed the b iggest refugee cri-
sis since the Second World War. Over a million people
moved v ia different migration ro utes. The key route was
the Balkan corridor running from Turkey, via Gre ece, to
Central, Western and Northern Europe. The aim of this
paper i s to describ e the develop ment and chan ges in the
route and provide an analysis of transit via Balk an coun-
tries, looking at factors that infl uenced the shape of the
corridor. This refugee crisis was challenging for European
countries and the whole European Union (EU). This cor-
ridor was unique , being de facto formalized semi- le gal
territory, which the EU had never faced b efore. An offi-
cial reaction to the crisis was necessary due to the sub-
stantial numbe r of people who were on the move, se eking
to cro ss the Balkan countrie s in the fastest manner pos-
sible. Therefore, the response was focused on arranging
transport and providing only short-term accommodation.
This paper uses the PE STLE fr amework to examine the
key political, e conomic, social, technologi cal, legal and en-
vironmental aspects that influenced the Balkan corridor,
as we ll as changes in the route over ti me and responses
to the m. The r ole of the media in shaping t he corridor is
also acknowledged, thus resulting in a PESTLE- M frame-
work. Findings from the rese arch are importa nt, as it is
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution License, w hich permits use , distribution an d
reproduct ion in any medium, pro vided the origina l work is properly cit ed.
© 2021 The Author s. International Migration published by John Wil ey & Sons Ltd on behalf of In ternational Org anization for
Migration.
|
249
SHAPING THE BA LKAN CORRIDO R IN 2015– 16
INTRODUCTION
In 2015, the total num ber of arrivals to Europe was 1, 046,599. In 2016, the majority (1,0 34,269) entered through
Greece, while 47,136 migrated through Bulgaria. T he Internatio nal Organizat ion for Migration (IOM ) identified
this situation as t he biggest European ref ugee crisis since the Second Wor ld War (IOM, 2016).
This paper examines the movement of migrants in 2015– 16 through the Balkans, looki ng at factor s that shaped
the corridor. The term "Balkan corrido r" was initially used in the media and applied to the route through the Balkan
states. This de facto humanitarian c orridor was use d by people who entered coun tries under ce rtain condition s
and later con tinued their journ ey without having t o present any identi ty documents (Š alamon & Bajt, 2016). T he
Balkan cor ridor starte d in Turkey— an entry point to Europe— and ex tended through Greece, Macedon ia, Serbia,
Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, with different configurations over time (Arsenijević et al., 2017). Most of
the count ries on the way served as transit co untries; migrant s aimed at Germany or Scandinavia as their target
destination (Šalamon, 2016a, 2016b; Weber, 2017). Transit countr ies adopted two differe nt policies to manage
the migration fl ow: the first (informal) pol icy was “turning a blind eye”, allowing pe ople to travel through their ter-
ritory (Macedoni a and Serbia), whereas the second policy took an active approach by providing transp ort between
national borde rs (Croatia and Slovenia) (Šala mon, 2016b).
The ai m of this paper is to de scribe the development and changes in the transit corridor an d then provide
an analysis of factors that shaped t he corridor, under the two pol icies adopted by transit countr ies, focusing on
2015– 16, which constitu ted the peak in the number of crossings. There is little research on this topic, even though
the importan ce of research shou ld be stressed as the corridor is still active (as of 2020, and migration may increase
at any moment. Con clusions should be drawn , analysed and presente d for both academic and pr actical reasons.
The paper covers t wo main topics:
1. The Balkan Corri dor: description and cha nges over time.
2. Factors that influe nced the flow of migrants.
The term "corridor" is used to desc ribe the rout e people moved through. Dif ferent groups of people moved
along the corridor— ref ugees, migrant s and asylum seekers— a nd there is still an ongoing debate on te rminology,
namely whe ther the term “r efugee crisis” or “m igrant crisis” shou ld be used (Bob ić & Šantić, 2019). In this paper,
the term "migrant s" is used to cover all these groups, regar dless of their status (refugee or e conomic migrant). For
the Republic of No rth Macedonia, the sho rt- term “Mace donia” is used.
This pape r is organized as follows: the second sect ion presents the methodolog y, and the thi rd section pr o-
vides contextual information a bout the corridor. S ection four contains the disc ussion and analysis of the case
using the PESTL E framework. The fina l part offers conclusi ons and recommendations f or future research.
METHODOLOGY
This paper is based on pr imary an d seconda ry sourc es: repor ts, med ia release s, docume nts and notes issued
by government s and by internat ional and non- governmental organizati ons (NGOs). Academi c literature was also
reviewed. In addition, one of t he authors spent some time in S erbia in 2016, observing the events. The review
like ly that th e EU will fa ce a simila r crisis i n the near fu ture.
Therefore, there is a need to prepa re and develop a plan in
case such a situation arises.
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations