Mediterranean Border Research Articles

Migration movements and their implications for Republic of Macedonia

Migrants and refugees coming from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia have presented European leaders and policymakers with their greatest challenge since the Europe’s economic crisis. Mediterranean external borders of the European Union have been largely affected with tragic events and overwhelming management of huge migration flows, which in the last two to three years have changed their course through the territory of Western Balkan countries. In times when unfortunately, an establishment of a single unified system based on the principle of shared-burden and solidarity is still waiting for practical implementation and execution, a part of the shared-burden and responsibility for managing migration flows have been transferred to the transit countries along the so-called “Balkan route”. The Republic of Macedonia and its role within the Balkan route has been seen crucial and frequently disputed. Understanding the position of this country, requires an overview of few aspects which need to be taken into account. In order to assist this endeavor, this article will attempt to presents the Macedonia experiences with migration movements.

A Fleet of Mediterranean Border Humanitarians

AbstractEUrope has created a space of human suffering within which military‐humanitarian measures seem urgently required if the mass drowning is to be halted. The framing of migration governance as humanitarian has become commonplace in spectacular border practices in the Mediterranean Sea. Nonetheless, maritime disasters continue to unfold. This article discusses three non‐governmental actors, part of an emerging “humanitarian fleet” that seeks to turn the sea into a less deadly space: the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Sea‐Watch. While the rescue of precarious lives and the alleviation of suffering are central concerns, they imagine their humanitarian practices, the subjects of their compassion, and EUrope's role in shaping borderzones in different ways, pointing to a wide humanitarian spectrum. Engaging with the different discursive frames created by the three “border humanitarians”, the article explores what possibilities exist for political dissent to emanate from within humanitarian reason.

Are migrants from Middle East carriers of multi-resistant bacteria?

Background: In 2015 about 1.2 million migrants via the Balkan Route (Greece to Austria and Germany) and about 250,000 migrants via the Sicily (Lampedusa) Malta Route entered the EU. Patients: Among 544,310 migrants in our field hospitals and checkpoints (Austria, Slovenia, and Greece) from Sept. 2015 to June 2016, Original Articles 11 Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Vol. 7 No. 3 2016 Introduction Discovery of the NDM-1 “travel” from India to Sweden, or MCR-1 genes coding colistin resistance from China to Europe are examples how multi-resistant bacteria from the 3rd World may enter EU countries, even with strict ATB policy specially via conflict areas or migration (1.2). Middle East and Southeast Asia are leading areas of the last large refugee event (Balkan and Mediterranean Route) whereas 1.351.5 million migrants and or refugees crossed the Greek or Italian Mediterranean border in 2015 (3-4). The aim of this short communication is to assess the risk of transfer or MR bacteria (5) within migrants in 2015/2016 from Middle East/Near East countries to the EU and dissolve the fear that refugees/migrants must be necessary carriers (6) of multi-resistant microbes or deadly diseases (6-9). Patients and Methods 12 Healthcare Workers (HCW) have been serving at the Nickelsdorf/Hegyeshalom (AT/ HU) and Dobova/Rigonce (CRO/SL) on 8 hour shifts, serving for 2 16,000 migrants per day. The Health Posts and Field Hospital on Austrian, Hungarian, Slovenia borders were opened since September 6, 2015 to March 2, 2016. In the six month period (9/2015 2/2016) about 319,500 migrants and or refugees crossed our Healthcare units, most, 90% of them healthy or not seeking medical care. About 29,500 (5,000 per month, 150 200 per day) presented themselves to one of our new facilities requiring healthcare and or therapy. Results and Discussion Concerning the spectrum of migrants 68% were from Syria, 21% from Iraq and 11% from other Asian countries. (Afghanistan, Pakistan). Table1 shows the commonest diagnoses. The majority had surprisingly little tropical, but “civilization” and “stress related” diseases, such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, neurovascular; diseases include decomposed diabetes, asthma, depression, etc., and camping related disorders (pneumonia, infected wounds, etc.). Only about 10% were infections, similar to those we can see in Central/Eastern EU members states Hungary and Slovakia. From 528 cases of lower respiratory tract infections (L-RTI), we obtained swabs from the oropharynx and nose and in 101 samples pathogenic yeasts or bacteria (Tab1.) we isolated. Antibiotic resistance was minimal and did not show any major threat to the host population. Only 1 penicillin-resistant Pneumococcus, 4 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 1 multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria (Klebsiella spp., resistant to all antibiotics including colistin (Table 1) were isolated. All Candida albicans are susceptible to fluconazole (FLU) but 3 of 7 non-albicans Candida spp (C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, C. krusei etc.) were FLU resistant. Surprisingly all H. influenzae strains are susceptible to ampicillin and all S. pyogenes were susceptible to erytromycin. bacterial isolates from patients with respiratory symptoms were obtained and 209 isolates were tested with available antibiotics. Results: Only 4 Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA (4%) and 1 Penicillin Resistant Pneumococcus PRP we isolated from migrants with symptomatic respiratory infections. Conclusions: Our small research compared to our expectations did not find any major resistance patterns colonizing or infecting migrants coming to the EU via the Balkan route from Syria, Iraq via Greece to Austria and Germany. 12 Original Articles Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Vol. 7 No. 3 2016 Conclusion In conclusion, despite the increasing number of migrants and or refugees via the „Balkan Route“, in contrast to those who are coming via Italy and Malta, our research found only a small proportion (1-4%) of multi-resistant bacterial isolates from the respiratory tract among our group of predominantly Syrian and Iraqi migrants.

Producing Sicily as Europe: Migration, Colonialism and the Making of the Mediterranean Border between Italy and Tunisia

ABSTRACTThis article studies the relationship between the production of the Mediterranean border between Italy and Tunisia, and Italy’s internal geographies of uneven development, commonly known as the 'Southern Question’. Through a study of contemporary Tunisian migration to Sicily in relation to turn of the 20th century Sicilian southward migration to French Protectorate Tunisia, it claims that Sicilians were made into Italians and Europeans through their relationship with Tunisians, and that Sicily was produced as Europe through the progressive demarcation and fortification of the Mediterranean border. Drawing on literature on colonial socio-spatial differentiation, internal colonialism and postcolonial analyses of migration to Europe, this article reframes current debates around the ‘integration’ of migrants as part of longer-term questions around the incorporation of ‘difference’ into the body-politic of the nation—questions that were historically posed in relation to colonial subjects and populations of metropolitan peripheries. Thus, the article considers current debates around the incorporation of migrants as part of a longer-term process of definition of the ‘civilizational’ boundaries of Europe.

Synoptic regimes associated with the eastern Mediterranean wet season cyclone tracks

The main synoptic patterns associated with the wet season (October–May) eastern Mediterranean cyclones have been analyzed and described using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis datasets for the period 1958–2013. The cyclone tracks detected in the eastern Mediterranean are classified into two types based on their positions: the local tracks and the long tracks. The local tracks are either stationary or short tracks. The long tracks distinguished into eleven very closed and highly correlated clusters, which are presented into three regimes namely the northern, the southern and the eastern border Mediterranean regimes. Among the 940 (44.78% of a total of 2099) long tracks, the northern, southern, and eastern border regime contributes respectively about 53.62%, 41.81% and 5% of the long tracks. In addition, the distribution of the long tracks reveals that a larger proportion of the cyclones are generated at the northern coast during November and spring months, while few cyclones are developed over the eastern Mediterranean border in warm months (April and May). Further, their synoptic features show that the regimes are associated with the extension of Azores high, specifically for each regime, the cyclogenesis areas of its clusters are controlled by the intersection of low level (850hPa) trough and the position of the upper level (250hPa) maximum wind. Furthermore, the orientations of clusters are controlled by the extension of Siberian high and the shape of cyclonic trough at 850hPa. In addition, the synoptic study shows that most of the southern cyclones generated externally by African and Red Sea troughs, while most of the northern and eastern border cyclones are generated internally.

A ‘European Migrant Crisis’? Some Thoughts on Mediterranean Borders

AbstractThis paper addresses the ongoing ‘European Migrant Crisis’ by, first, discussing the return of internal borders within the European Union as zones for controlling and sorting migrants, and then both internal and external borders as areas in which policing and national policy choices deeply challenge international law, which was designed to protect all human beings regardless of their country of departure. The primary argument developed here is that some EU countries neglect to abide by the European and international regulations on migration, asylum seekers, and human rights, with unprecedented consequences. Border policies are presented here as paradoxical governmental tools, which are not applied equally and uniformly. The main consequence is the growing gap between rights guaranteed under the law and their selective application within a border management where the state of exception is increasingly visible.

La olla a presión: cómo la seguridad fronteriza sigue aumentando el caos

This paper explores the problems and contradictions of the so-called «balloon effect» in migratory processes, and the need to elaborate a global and interconnected understanding of population flows across borders as the necessary basis to design just and effective migratory policies.The revision of the successive «crisis» in the Mediterranean borders, starting with the first small boats (pateras) which used to cross the Strait of Gibraltar all the way to today’s «Refugee Crisis», makes sufficiently clear that the pressure on certain potential migratory entry routes does not discourage the will to cross, but rather forces immigrants and refugees in other directions. Ethnographic data show how, for example, the today prestigious Spanish border control model in Gibraltar did not stop the problem but rather provoked the shiftof migratory flows to more dangerous routes in the Sahara and the North of Africa. Spain’s problem eventually became Italy’s problem and, in turn, as routes moved East, Greece’s problem: a vicious cycle manifesting the failure of European policies. The author follows the life histories of migrants he worked in the route from Senegal to Morocco who, in their respective African transits, have had to face walls, borders, new surveillance technologies and cross-border mafias. Migrants’ experiences signal a progressive process: the globalization and commodification of irregular routes, emerging in parallel to migratory inhibition mechanisms

Introducción. Etnografías y emergencias en el Mediterráneo: agujeros negros de nuestra modernidad

This section is an anthropological response to the atrocity of the media coverage and death of thousands of human beings in the sea linking Southern Europe with Northern Africa, the Mediterranean. It responds to the moral economy of asylum and the rhetoric of humanitarianism based on «crisis» and «emergencies» rather than social justice and human rights. We consider the Mediterranean from the ethnographic perspective, analysing and experiencing borders in a specific way, away from media cameras and political populism, and closely in touch with the stories and interpretations of the people who cross them. We address Mediterranean borders as they really are at the current moment: interconnected, delocalized, much more extensive than defined by law as «the European frontier». They constitute a «pressure cooker», exacerbated by the effects of police controls in transit countries like Morocco, Libya and Turkey. This border Regime extends to the European territory contains through the 400 immigration detention centres and the monitors of foreigners settling in Europe. The overwhelming borderland regime calling into question the validity of the ethical and political principles that led to the construction of the European Union.

What should the characteristics and attributes of an accredited nephrology training programme be? Looking for high standards.

The Renal Section of the European Union of Medical Specialists is working towards harmonization and optimization of nephrology training across Europe and its Mediterranean borders. In addition to the need for harmonization of the heterogeneous time dedicated to training, it is necessary to ensure that the learning environment is of a sufficiently high standard to develop skilled specialists. Thus, there is a need to review the core educational infrastructure and resources that should be provided to trainees in order to be considered centres of excellence for nephrology training.This review addresses most of the characteristics and attributes that constitute a high-calibre training centre of excellence, considering that a training centre might not represent a single institution, but a network of institutions that provide a coordinated and complete curriculum to the trainee.The training institution should provide, apart from the classical current nephrological facilities (clinical nephrology, haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and transplantation), a number of other complementary facilities, including immunology, nephropathology—with a dedicated and expert renal pathologist—all the specialities of general medicine and general surgery and, in particular, vascular surgery, radiology and interventional radiology specialist services (renal biopsy, renal ultrasound and permanent vascular access) and intensive care unit. In addition to clinical training, a training centre of excellence should offer research facilities to allow trainees the opportunity to be involved in epidemiological, clinical, translational or basic scientific research. The training centres should ideally hold a certification of training accreditation.If the European and its Mediterranean border countries wish to guarantee a high standard of training in nephrology, their national health services need to recognize their responsibility towards the importance of doctor training, providing enough time for educational activities and investing in the resources required for high-standard specialist training.

A tale of two cities: the production of difference in a Mediterranean border enclave

In this article, I explore how Christians and Muslims are produced as separate and mutually exclusive communities in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla. I argue that while the constitution of these groups as ‘communities’ is the result of a long history of unequal power relations and socio-spatial segregation, the reproduction of the boundaries between the two depends on the active transmission of particular codes of conduct and modes of behaviour in the public sphere. It is through these discursive and bodily practices that difference is actively produced. Le conte de deux cites: la production de la difference dans une enclave de frontieres mediterraneenne Dans cet article, j'explore comment la difference est produite entre chretiens et musulmans dans l'enclave nord-africaine espagnole de Melilla. Je soutiens que cette difference est maintenue par les structures de segregation socio-spatiale qui sont le temoignage d'une longue histoire de relations inegales entre les deux groupes. Il ya donc un chevauchement entre les frontieres socio-economiques et religieuses. La reproduction de ces limites symbiotiques depend, cependant, sur les modes de comportement, la transmission des codes de conduite et autres pratiques par lesquelles la difference est produite activement.

The Myth of Resistance: Rethinking the “Informal” Economy in a Mediterranean Border Enclave

Against claims that, with globalization, state borders are becoming increasingly obsolete, a growing number of scholars have called for a return to the consideration of borders as the symbols of the power of the state, and of the state, in turn, as the principal agent in the configuration of territorial boundaries. The study of border regions, in this view, should be conceived as an investigation into the ways in which state power is enforced, resisted, contested or negotiated. With this question in view, cross-border smuggling and other “informal” economic activities typical of border areas are construed as movements of resistance and subversion. This essay examines the “informal” economy that exists across the Spanish-Moroccan border of Melilla and argues that the state/resistance approach precludes a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics at play across borders, and prevents us from asking questions about the meaning of cross-border exchanges, connections and transactions.

Controlling irregular migration in the Kingdom of Spain

This paper follows on the argument that the success of policies combating irregular migration depends on the combination of external fencing activities with the internal fencing and external and internal gate-keeping policies adopted by a country. This paper reviews the main gate-keeping policies adopted by Spain with a view to highlighting whether and how they achieve their intended effects. It also reviews the success of migration control implemented by Spain, one of the Mediterranean borders of the EU, which has been disproportionately affected by irregular crossings at its' land and sea borders compared with other major EU immigrant destinations, which are geographically situated much farther from migration source and transit countries.

Seroprevalence of Toscana Virus in Blood Donors, France, 2007

Seroprevalence of Toscana Virus in Blood Donors, France, 2007

European bioclimatic affinity groups: Data-model comparisons

Global vegetation models are remarkably effective when considering large areas such as Europe. However, their accuracy at finer scales remains to be tested. In this paper, we validate the simulation of modern potential vegetation by the CARbon Assimilation In the Biosphere (CARAIB) model in Europe. Then, in order to evaluate the simulation of tree group distributions at a finer scale, in France, we present a comparison between observed distributions, distributions reconstructed from palynological data, and model simulated ranges. The results will help to validate past vegetation simulations. For this analysis, we use Bioclimatic Affinity Groups (BAGs), based on vegetation groups' climatic tolerances and requirements. The CARAIB model was adapted to simulate the net primary productivity (NPP), biomass and range of the arboreal BAGs. In Europe, at a 30′ latitude/longitude grid scale, simulated NPP of BAGs are used to define classes of vegetation as being present or absent, with a classification rule, based on Kappa statistics. In France, at a 10′ lat./long. scale, a second discriminant analysis, based on Classification And Regression Tree (CART), allows for a similar classification with BAG pollen percentages. At each palynological sampling site, we then compared the simulation to the reconstruction from pollen data. With 30′ lat./long. resolution, most thresholds that discriminate NPP into absence or presence classes are low, ranging from 1 to 77 g/m 2. Agreement indices between observed and simulated distributions range from 0.4 to 0.83, with broad scale BAG potential patterns and boundaries being accurately simulated by CARAIB. In France, on the 10′ lat./long. scale, pollen percentages correctly account for BAG presence/absence despite non-linear pollen-vegetation relationships. Agreement ratios between observed and reconstructed patterns range from 0.53 to 0.95. At the 10′ lat./long. scale, the validation of simulated ranges with pollen data is reliable for 9 of 13 arboreal BAGs and acceptable for three more BAGs. The discrepancies highlight the gap between potential and actual distribution areas. The filling of simulated potential ranges, such as the Atlantic coast and near Mediterranean border, are uncompleted as actual ranges are limited by a number of climate and dispersal constraints related to competition as well as historical, geographical and anthropogenic factors. Our results suggest that the simulation of these constraints would be a major improvement for the CARAIB model.

Lands and endemic mammals in the Late Miocene of Italy: Constrains for paleogeographic outlines of Tyrrhenian area

The Pre-Messinian land mammal localities of Italy contribute substantial information for reconstructing the complex history of the land masses of the central Mediterranean. At the present state of knowledge the available paleogeographic maps do not have the adequate time resolution for providing an effective picture of the evolution of the physiographic and of the oceanographic characteristics of the area. This can only be accomplished through detailed comparative analyses of the geology and of the land and marine faunas in the course of the Miocene. The Pre-Messinian Late Miocene land mammals localities of Italy document the existence of three distinct bioprovinces. Two of the latter are characterised by faunas with manifestly endemic features, thus attesting to the occurrence of isolated emerged areas. One of these areas is called the Abruzzi–Apulia paleobioprovince; it was located on the Adriatic side of Apennines. The other one is the so-called Tusco–Sardinian paleobioprovince and was located in the peri-Tyrrhenian side of Italy. A third bioprovince, testified by sites in Calabria and Sicily, is characterised by non-endemized mammals, counterparts of which were identified in North Africa and Europe. This area was therefore, at least in part, a northern extension of the Late Miocene Mediterranean border of the African plate. These three areas belong to completely different tectonic domains and kept separated for a considerable time span and each one has a peculiar biogeographic and tectonic history.

Policing Migration in the Mediterranean

Over recent years, there has been growing concern in European countries with irregular migration and other – supposedly related – transnational challenges from across the Mediterranean, which have come to be seen both as a security risk as well as a humanitarian challenge. In response, European countries have been stepping up their efforts to police their Mediterranean borders. This has involved both an increasing militarization of migration control in the Mediterranean, in the sense of the deployment of semi-military and military forces and hardware in the prevention of migration by sea, and an intensification of law enforcement co-operation between the countries north and south of the Mediterranean. This article discusses the evolution of these policing activities in and across the Mediterranean, as well as some of its perverse side effects, such as the growing involvement of human smugglers, and the diversion of the migratory flows towards other, usually further and more dangerous, routes across the Mediterranean sea.

Monetary and Exchange Rate Stability at the EU Mediterranean Borders

Stabilizing the exchange rate is a major monetary policy goal in a number of Mediterranean countries. We present a microstructure model of the foreign exchange market based on technical trading that allows us to categorize de facto exchange rate regimes and to derive a market based measure of the credibility of these exchange rate regimes. In our empirical analysis we compare the exchange rate policies of seven non European Mediterranean countries, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia, with the benchmark of four European non EU countries namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania. Our results indicate that the fundamental volatility of the market based exchange rates is quite moderate and that markets assign a moderate degree of credibility to the exchange rate management of most of the countries.

Carcinome hépatocellulaire sur foie non cirrhotique. Présentation d'une série de 77 patients opérés

Objective To present epidemiologic profile of this supposedly rare condition, its diagnostic management and the results of surgical treatment in a population of the mediterranean border. Patients and methods Between 1987 and 1999, the records of patients operated on for hepatocellular carcinoma and in whom cirrhosis was not present on pathological examination of liver parenchyma were collected. Data were collected prospectively. Results Mean age was 57,6 years. There were 61 men (79%) and 16 women but sex ratio was 1/1 for patients under 50. Hepatitis B and/or C serology was positive in 22 patients (29%). At presentation, 56 patients (73%) suffered of symptoms and there was evidence of tumor at clinical examination in 30 (39%). Sensitivity of α-fetoprotein measurement was 55%, and 58% for preoperative percutaneous biopsy. Twelve had exploratory laparotomy only, 61 underwent partial liver resection and 4 were transplanted. Resection was presumed curative in 56 cases (73%). There was one single tumor mass in 41 cases (53%) and its mean size was 10,3 cm. Liver fibrosis was present in 24 cases (29%). After curative resection, 5-year survival rate was 46%, and favorable prognostic factors were : α-fetoprotein within normal range, single tumor mass or tumor size less than 10 cm. Conclusion Hepatocellular carcinoma arising on noncirrhotic liver is not a rare occurrence. It is usually encountered at an advanced stage of the disease. Nonetheless, it remains extirpable in many cases with low postoperative mortality and long term results are better than those of resections for hepatocellular carcinoma on cirrhotic liver.

Attitudes occidentales à l'égard des miracles d'images dans le Haut Moyen Age

A la fin du 10e ou dans la première moitié du 11e siècle, un Christ en croix pleure à Orléans, annonçant de la sorte un grand incendie ; d'autres crucifix opèrent des guérisons à Cologne et à Ratisbonne ; on montrait à Autun, là aussi sur un crucifix, une effigie du Christ qui longtemps auparavant s'était inclinée devant un saint moine lui-même élevé au-dessus du sol ; on racontait à Saint-Gall que la Vierge avait jadis guidé la main d'un moine du monastère en train de ciseler son portrait à Metz ; à Châtillonsur- Loire une statue de la Vierge échappe miraculeusement au feu ; et une statue reliquaire comme celle de sainte Foy à Conques multiplie les miracles de toutes sortes.

Grape and Small Fruit Growing in Turkey

Turkey has important potential in world fruit production. Anatolia, which constitutes a bridge between Asia and Europe, is the motherland of numerous fruit species. Pear, quince, plum, sweet cherry, sour cherry, filbert, pistachio nut, olive, grape, fig, and pomegranate are the major species. The suitable climate and soil conditions play a great art in Turkey being an important germplasm source for fruits (gzbek, 1977; Ens and Barut, 1992). Turkey is a country surrounded by seas in three directions (Figure 1); The Black, Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas border the country on the north, north-west, west, and south, respectively. A subtropical climate is prominent in the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, whereas there exists a continental climate in Central Anatolia and East Anatolia. The Black Sea coasts have a humid and partially cool climate due to high rainfall. The Mediterranean Region has calcareous soils while the Black Sea