Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Professor John Wilton Lecture 7 Immigration policy [USEMAP] Additional Sources •http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/migration- pulse/2010/lack-common-eu-policy-asylum- and-immigration-stockholm-programme- answer •Barnickel, C. and Beichelt, T. ‘ Shifting Patterns and Reactions – Migration Policy in the New EU Member States’, in East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, Vol.27, No. 3, Aug. 2013 pp.466-492. [USEMAP] Additional Sources •Favell, A. ‘The fourth freedom: Theories of migration and mobilities in ‘neo-liberal’ Europe’, in European Journal of Social Theory, Vol.17, No.3, Aug. 2014, pp.275- 289. •Jurado, E. Brochmann, G. and Dolvik, J.E. ‘Immigration, Work and Welfare. Towards an integrated approach’, www.policy- network.net, Feb.2013) [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 - called for measures to be introduced by the year 2002 to ensure the absence of any control on persons when crossing internal borders in the E.U. [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 By middle of 1990s main sources of immigrants into E.U. were from Yugoslavia, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco -Germany …. 1,918,000 Turks 930,000 Yugoslavs -France ……. 614,000 Algerians 573,000 Moroccans 198,000 Turks [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 -U.K. …… 1,281,000 people from non- E.U. countries (included 130,000 Africans and 322,000 from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) -Belgium … 145,000 Moroccans 88,000 Turks [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 -Netherlands ……. 203,000 Turks 165,000 Moroccans -Italy ……………. 97,000 Moroccans 73,000 Yugoslavs [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 2 different processes, and operating at 2 different speeds: A) much more convergence and harmonisation between individual E.U. States on immigration policy; B) a much more limited convergence and harmonisation on citizenship policies [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 2 main reasons why migration flows from outside and inside EU into most E.U. countries continue: A)Capacity of E.U. states to police their borders effectively and maintain strict controls over immigration is limited; B)many E.U. states dependent on migration to meet varying requirements of internally different labour markets [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 Schengen Accord, 1990 - France, Germany, Netherlands, (and later) Italy Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 - formal integration of Schengen Accord - E.U. take responsibility border free area (except UK, Denmark, Ireland) [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 -up to early 1980s …. around 100,000 asylum applications each year -1992 ….. Over 660,000 asylum applications -Post May 2004 E.U. enlargement -623,000 Poles -30,600 Czechs -115,000 Slovaks applied to work in other E.U. states (May 2004 to May 2006) [USEMAP] •The Stockholm Programme 2010 - 2015 •The EU’s law-and-order agenda - Immigration is a major focus. EU countries urged to adopt a common strategy to better manage their borders and satisfy labour market needs. Called for laws to ensure immigrants had equal rights throughout the EU and for closer monitoring of migration patterns and labour trends. •Was the first step towards the adoption of a concerted Immigration and Asylum Policy. Cooperation between member states on immigration issues, where their differing priorities will not even allow consensus on the issue of labour migration, is poor. •The Stockholm Programme was recognised as a necessary, but insufficient framework for future immigration policy planning. • BUT - member states often only take action for short term political gains - and UK & Denmark uninterested in a collaborative migration policy - leaving interim measures the only strategy on the ground. This is exacerbated by economic uncertainty. • [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Lecture 7 Skills selective immigration policies in E.U. states: 1)immigrant-driven policies where points are allocated to individual immigrants on the basis of particular attributes (usually a mixture of education, age and income) 2)employer-driven policies where employers sponsor application for admission of a foreign worker [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Immigration crisis 2015/2016: ‘Spillover’ - What did the crisis mean for: -Harmonisation, mutual recognition and convergence in E.U. immigration and asylum policy? -Welfare provision? -Quotas? -Schengen? -Nationalism? -The demographic ‘time-bomb’ in the E.U.? [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Between 1.1.15 and 31.08.15: people detected on EU borders seeking entry = 350,000 (doesn’t include those who passed through unnoticed) (whole of 2014 = 280,000) 34% from Syria, 12% Afghanistan, 12% Eritrea, 5% Somalia, 5% Nigeria. Most common route was eastern Mediterranean via Turkey (100,000 attempted to cross overland from Balkans.) (Source: BBC ‘Newsnight’ 04.09.15) [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. Sea crossings: 2010 9,700 2011 70,000 2012 22,500 2013 60,000 2014 219,000 1.1.15 to 29.06.15 137,000 40,000 people arrived in Hungary in July 2015 alone [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. In 2014 asylum applications: Germany 203,000 (prepared to accept 800,000 in 2015) U.K. 36,000 (prepared to accept 20,000 over next 5 years from Syria and Middle East conflict zones) Sweden 81,000 Italy 65,000 France 63,000 Hungary 43,000 Czech Republic 1,155 [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. In 2015 the E.U. forced through mandatory refugee quotas on the Member States at the height of the migration crisis through a qualified majority vote. (Qualified majority voting (QMV) is a mechanism used within the European Council and Council of the EU to take decisions without the need for unanimity but which go beyond a simple majority of members. There are two forms of qualified majority: Standard and Reinforced. Standard: - decisions are adopted if at least 55% of member states – meaning 15 out of 27 – representing at least 65% of the EU population, approve. Reinforced: - at least 72% of member states must approve, representing the same proportion of the EU population. Abstention counts as a vote against. A standard qualified majority is the ordinary procedure used for most EU legislation A reinforced qualified majority is used if the Council is acting on proposal that has not come from the Commission or High Representative for Foreign Affairs, such as when electing key posts like the European Central Bank president and High Representative) [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. -Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia opposed taking in any refugees under the 2015 quota system -Those countries, along with others, blocked attempts at reform of the refugee/migration quota system in 2016 that was based on mandatory payments by those E.U. states who refused to take in asylum seekers. -Towards the end of this year (2020) the European Commission announced it was abandoning the idea of mandatory refugee quotas for the Member States – after 4 years of deadlock between the States -The proposals would allow E.U. Member States to choose whether to accept refugees, or take charge of returning those denied asylum to their home countries [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. - -The main problem with the latest proposals is that some of the states who are at the ‘frontline’ of receiving immigrants and refugees across the Mediterranean – Italy, Greece and Spain – feel they are the most burdened as they will retain default responsibility for managing migrants and asylum claims. -Member State governments will become responsible for any migrants they fail to return to their home countries, rather than the E.U. as a whole. [USEMAP] Political Issues and Social Policy in the E.U. - NGOs have condemned the proposals, arguing that the E.U. Commission has bowed to pressure from E.U. Member State governments whose only objective is to decrease the number of people (migrants and refugees) granted protection in Europe. -In 2018 around 150,000 irregular migrants arrived in the E.U. Member States, the lowest level in five years. -However, as one German government Minister pointed out with the publication of the latest 2020 proposals, “there is currently no functioning European (E.U.) migration policy.” Undoubtedly, and unfortunately, this is for political and nationalist reasons amongst some of the Member States’ politicians. [USEMAP]