A rchive Date
[ 21-02-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
|
[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/stanway.html
Europe confronts what Canada ignores
By PAUL STANWAY -- Edmonton Sun
February 21, 2004
A demand by voters in western Europe for tighter immigration controls is having a dramatic impact on governments, with half a dozen countries hurrying to overhaul policies which only months ago were considered sacrosanct.
Some of the changes relate to the entry into the European Union this spring of 10 new states, most in eastern Europe and all significantly less prosperous than the existing EU countries. Most EU governments, and voters, were in favour of welcoming Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta into the fold, until it dawned on them that they were about to grant residency to almost 74 million poorer neighbours.
How many of them might actually exercise that right and move?
Most countries were sufficiently spooked to invoke exemptions that will block most migrant workers from the new EU member states for between two and seven years. France and Italy have already announced they will maintain restrictions for the maximum seven years, and Germany and Austria are expected to do the same.
Germany, which is home to millions of illegal migrants, has organized a small army of 7,000 new inspectors to man its eastern borders and round up illegals already in the country. (One recent estimate suggests there are 30,000 illegal Polish immigrants working in Berlin alone.)
Only Britain and Ireland have retained an open-door policy, and their governments are being roasted as "reckless" and "naive" by opposition parties and critics in the media. In Britain the tragic drowning deaths of 19 illegal Chinese immigrants collecting shellfish has expanded this into an intense debate on immigration policy in general.
All over Europe governments are being called upon to justify long-standing immigration policies, which - like Canada's - place tough limits on legal immigrants, including sponsorship requirements and a theoretical "qualification period" for access to benefits (in Canada, 10 years), yet allow refugee claimants immediate access to the whole range of social services and health care.
The result, predictably, has been an avalanche of refugee claimants.
Study after study (in half a dozen different countries) has shown that the vast majority of such claims are bogus, but deporting bogus claimants or tightening controls has had a low priority on political agendas. Or it did in Europe until it became an issue of real concern to the average citizen.
This week, the Dutch parliament voted for the EU's first mass expulsion of 26,000 refugee claimants who have exhausted the extensive appeals process. They are still living in Holland, illegally, and continuing to draw benefits, because until this week there was no way, and no political will, to send them home.
As in so many other countries, Dutch immigration policy was a sham, a fraud that rewarded those who broke the rules. It served neither legal immigrants and real refugees nor Dutch society. What convinced the EU's most liberal country that change was needed was its first real immigration debate, prompted by outspoken politician and gay activist Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated two years ago.
Fortuyn was lacerated by the establishment and Dutch media for questioning immigration policy, but his comments struck a chord with the silent majority and put the issue at the forefront of public debate. As mentioned in this space a few weeks ago, an all-party parliamentary committee was struck to examine immigration policy - and reported in blunt terms that it has been a disaster, for immigrants and native Dutch alike. The government had little choice but to act.
All across Europe, public disquiet is forcing governments to rethink lax immigration policies. Even in Britain the government has put several test cases before the courts (in the hope that judges would do the political dirty work), but with little or no success so far.
Canada's immigration laws have been all rhetoric and no common sense for 30 years, and 9-11 showed they can have truly lethal consequences. But while Europeans seem to have finally awakened to the fact flawed policies benefit no one, we remain on snooze control.
Letters to the editor should be sent to mailbag@edm.sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
|