Greece has published Sunday in the official gazette the quotas of seasonal employees who will have the right to be hired in the neighboring country, most of whom are Albanians.

The government says it needs 65,000 seasonal workers in agriculture and about 10,000 in livestock breeding sector, who will be granted temporary seasonal residence permits. The neighboring country also says there are 18,000 new jobs in agriculture and another 10,000 in livestock.

However, the official Athens has set new rules, creating a register of seasonal workers in the country, most of whom are Albanians, who have a legal temporary stay in Greece, which was previously impossible.

Seasonal workers were first formalized as such only a year ago with the normative act no. 90 / 01.05.2020 which arose as an agreement between the Greek and Albanian governments, which gave the opportunity to thousands of Albanian citizens to enter Greece legally and be employed in the agricultural sector with simple procedures and for free.

Meanwhile, the new decision of the Greek government marks another stage in this process, now formalizing their status and creating concrete jobs. For the first time, new categories of seasonal employment have been created, such as care for the elderly or people specializing in electronics.

The first place for labor is held by the prefecture of Imathia with 12,000 work permits, followed by Halkidhikia with 10,000 and Pela with about 7000 permits.

Important is the fact that the Greek side wants to formalize this cooperation mainly with Albania, from where is the largest influx of requests, not only because of the proximity between the two countries, but also for the fact that Albanians are considered specialized workers in the agricultural sector.

The new law enables the creation of an official register of seasonal workers, who will be able to move easily across borders, but also to be employed in more than one productive campaign of different cultures in the country, which significantly increases the period of stay of these employees in Greece.

So, immigrants who will be part of this register, will be allowed to work according to different seasons and cultures throughout the country. This is because Greece has at least 3 processes that need a lot of manpower. Spring, the period in which fruits begin, autumn in which olive harvest begins, and winter in which citrus fruits are harvested.

The new law on seasonal employment was made possible by the president of the federation of Greek fruit producers, Christos Janakakis, and the Albanian expert on immigration issues, Arminda Plagarica.