Why does the European Union seem attractive to migrants ?
The issues that surround the migration of people from native to host countries, whether this be legal or illegal for economic or asylum reasons, stir up deep seated problems in every modern industrial western society. In elections around Europe and the United States Immigration and Asylum policy is nearly always high on the agenda. The problem of migration is inextricably linked to the Westphalian notion of statehood, a notion which was born in Europe in 1648 and ever since has been the focal point of nearly every major conflict within Europe. The attitude of present-day states towards the Westphalian conception highlights to a large degree why Europe is so popular with migrants. In this essay I intend to set out from a legal and sociological standpoint the underlying attitudes of modern day Europe towards migration and how that is related to the current influx of migrants.
Europe’s Popularity
Europe as a whole and in its individual member states exhibits a large influx of migrants of all varieties and central Europe seems to be one of the most popular destinations for migrant workers in the whole world. The European Union issues hundreds of thousands of work permits every year, the UK alone issued 54,000 work permits in 1997 as well as 58,700 residence permits and these numbers have continued to grow. We have to also factor in the issue over asylum. According to the UNHCR in 2004 the European Union received 290,000 applications for asylum whereas the US only received 55, 067 in the same period and in 2003 Australia only accepted just under 5,000 visa applications. Given the geographical differential between these three we can clearly see that the EU is highly popular with all kinds of migrants whether that is those fleeing from oppressive regimes or those coming to find a better life.
Popularity Explained
The main question that this work wishes to solve is answering why Europe exhibits abnormally high levels of migration across the wide variety of states. In doing this I intend to take a two-fold perspective both analysing the policy of the EU towards immigrants and also looking for more esoteric reasons to understand what it is that attracts all migrants to the EU.
The European Union has a traditionally liberal approach towards immigration which derives from the liberal-democratic movement that underlies the formation of the European Union and is embodied in the Geneva Convention of 1951 and New York Protocol of 1967. Article 33 of the Geneva Convention sets out the principal of ‘non-refoulement’, the Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 promises an ‘Area of Freedom, Security & Justice’ and the continual dedication of Europe to Human Rights all underline it’s dedication to an open and liberal approach to immigration. The policy of Europe towards migrant workers is centred on key liberal provisions and from the top down Europe centres its immigration policies around:
European Convention of Human Rights
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture
European Social Charter
Standards of the European Committee against Racism and Intolerance
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
The Tampere Council following the Treaty of Amsterdam stated its dedication to the aim that they ‘should aim at granting legally resident third country nationals rights and obligations comparable to those of EU citizens’ and the general policy as exhibited in European documents on immigration stresses the need to integrate all kinds of immigrants from labour migrants to refugees and asylum seekers into the European Union, using Human Rights, Particularly Article’s 3 & 8, they seek to break down any notions of Fortress Europe.
This picture is obviously highly one-sided and belies the unrest in individual member states such as France where Far-Right parties such as those led by Jean Marie La-Penn made such gains and in the Netherlands following the shooting of Theobald van Gogh there has been a significant shift to far-right politics, the UK has admitted at a European level as manifesting ‘institutional racism’ and its opting out of the ‘Schengen agreements’ on immigration highlights reservations about a whole-hearted embrace of the European Liberal dream that runs through much of its writings. The liberal tendencies of the EU took a blow following the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001 where asylum seekers and refugees became the subject of stringent provisions under a Working Paper printed on the 5th of December 2001 which attempted to expand the exceptions to the Geneva Convention that dealt with immigration and asylum. It is a given that the far-right parties that are making gains in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and many others but the impact of this has been thus far minimal. It is unclear whether Europe as a Union will be swayed by such sentiments but the Geneva Convention and the liberal-democratic foundations of the Union that is embodied in the desire for Europe to steer clear of nationalism, the very idea of which is still taboo in politics sixty years since National Socialism gave it such a bad name, that aversion to nationalism and acceptance of multi-culturalism more than any other thing drives core European policies and must be one of the reasons why it is a popular destination for migrants
The United States Law on Immigration has since the Immigration Act of 1965 been particularly conservative in setting quotas on all types of migrant workers, The Refugees Act 1980 set up a quota on the number of refugees, the Immigration Acts throughout the 1990’s all concentrated on toughening up Immigration Laws by increasing security on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration and these tight immigration laws are supported by the majority of Americans who see immigrants as taking away low-skilled jobs from US Citizens, some cities have actively started denying rights to illegal immigrants. Whilst many argue for the economic benefits of migrant workers, the same arguments that apply to labour migrants in the EU, many academics feel that this is exacerbating the divide between the upper and lower classes of society and that migrant workers benefit more affluent Americans rather than poor Americans. The effect of 9/11 has had much the same effect that the Madrid bombings, the van Gogh shooting and other such incidents have had in member states of the EU which is to galvanise anti-immigration sentiment.
Australia and Canada also exhibit a tighter approach to immigration with strict points systems for all skilled migrants, a denial of social benefits to migrants for the first two years of residence and stricter approaches to issues of asylum and refugees. A look at the immigration policies shows that Europe which has Free movement of EU Workers between member states, dedication to equality of third country nationals, dedication to their human and social rights as well as a stated aim of integration. The absence of any formal quota system or strict border guarding as exists in the US imply at least one reason why many European countries are favoured by migrants over other Western Democracies.
Having looked at the policy differences in major jurisdictions we also have to look at more esoteric reasons why migrants move to the EU in such large numbers. In doing this we will take a look at the migrant streams coming into Europe and see what kinds of workers move to Europe and try and relate these back to institutional factors of the European Union. It is extremely hard to generalize about these streams and there is wide geographical variation for example in Germany labour migrants make up over 50% of their total migrants whereas its near neighbour Austria has an almost identical level of migrants between Family migrants and Labour migrants. However the major European countries to attract those four general types of migrants namely Family, Labour, Student and Asylum. The higher proportionate number of those migrating to the EU under these heads causes there own problems for local and national governments but here we will present a brief précis of why the EU attracts these kinds of migrants over America and Australia in specific.
One major reason why these four streams have increased towards Europe draws on an analysis of migratory behaviour that is well established in the academic world and that is the economic-incentive theories. It is well established that Immigration Policy, Relativity of Income and Income inequality are the major push-pull factors and that the more favourable those are and the larger the gap the more probable that people will migrate. If we therefore look at the key factors in relation to Europe, America and Australia we clearly see those western European countries such as the UK which have exhibited very liberal immigration policies and other large European countries such as France and Germany which although stricter still subscribe to the more liberal notions of the EU has a direct impact. This is especially so in the case of labour migrants who are subject to highly technical and demanding points requirements in Australia and Canada and quotas in the US. A strong economy in the UK in particular in comparison to the Global economy which is centred on the US, the large gap between the upper and middle classes in the US. This combined with low-skill trades such as farm-hands that are major source of employment for immigrants in Spain and France and work in a seasonal manner
Another reason for large migration to Europe and especially Western Europe is its position geographically. In many cases they are the easiest and most accessible countries for people fleeing terrorist regimes. The problems cause by the break-up of the Soviet bloc and the general mess in Eastern Europe means that for many Western Europe is the easiest place to flee to that is affluent. The effect of mass-advertising and a media culture has an effect on this more than ever before, Silj (2001) points out that things such as Italian shows on Albanian TV have a direct influence on the perception of Albanians of the life they could lead in Italy. This kind of marketing has an effect on migration and for many eastern European countries the dream is not American or Australian but is European because that is the culture that they are submersed in.
The booms in immigration that occurred in the 1980’s and early 1990’s also have a further impact on the migration, the establishment of muslim communities in the UK, Turkish communities in Germany and many other examples increase the pull factor because of established familial relationships. It must be remembered that 84% of US immigration occurs from Mexico and that the establishment of ethnic identity is different in the EU and US. In the US communities such as the Latin, Hispanic, African and Mexican tend to be willing to accept western culture and integrate with the western ideals whereas in Europe because of the toleration of minorities existent for hundred of years such as basque, celtic and many others migrants tend to be able to keep their identity and thus encourage more migrants.
Conclusion
The migratory behaviour of people is far from scientific, the lack of reliable data on illegal immigrants and in some case legal immigrants means that the identification of trends and tendencies is very difficult. Undoubtedly the major factors of liberal policies, good economies, geographical proximity, long term immigration of certain nationals and possibly infinite more factors affect the pull of migrants to Europe that seems to offer more hope to migrants. However, the exact reasons for its popularity maybe a job too big for current statistics and current studies to comprehend.
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