Immigration plays a roll in German politics

Conservative Challenger Attacks German Chancellor

The opposition candidate for Chancellor, Edmund Stoiber, is using immigration as an issue.

"Mr. Stoiber also called again today for stricter controls on immigration. Despite his support from many businesses, he has tried to block a Schröeder-drafted law that would allow more immigration from well-educated workers, especially in computer sciences, that the aging German population needs to compete internationally."

This marks a change from past national elections when refugee politics would be hotly debated in parliament but almost never become electoral issues. It will be interesting to see how long Stoiber sticks with the issue and what success he has with it.

Enlarging the Club

"Enlargement is vital to defeat rise of far right, EU told" The Guardian, June 6, 2002

Since part of the appeal of the extreme right is Europe, and another critical component is the movement of people across borders, it has been suggested that slowing down enlargement might be a good idea.

"Gunter Verheugen, the German commissioner in charge of enlargement, said that the December deadline for concluding negotiations with the 10 hopefuls must be met...

You don't want to to create impenetrable borders between that part of Europe that is affluent and that part which is desperately trying to catch up," he said. "Enlargement is not the problem. Enlargement is part of the solution."

The New Gated Community

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Fortress Europe pulls up the drawbridge

Article compares European immigration policy to the trend to local gated communities in the U.S.:

But gated communities are so 1990s. The issue now is whether we are about to see our first gated continent: Europe. With anti-immigrant sentiment running high and right-wing parties on the march, it seems only a matter of time before a new iron curtain descends, with armed guards patrolling the eastern frontier and warships in the Mediterranean to protect our European home.

Article argues that the rush to closure on the part of European governments undermines their ability to make the case for legal immigration, which, as all economists recognize, is necesary to provide labor for jobs that Europeans are unwilling to take and to support the welfare states in countries where the aging native populations will be drawing on more resources than they can provide. In England, the contribution of migrants is clear:

The Treasury says that migration has added around half a percentage point to the UK's trend rate of growth, with around 90% of net migration accounted for by people of working age.

In recent years, there had been a trend in countries like Germany and Italy for politicians and economic elites to begin to make the case for immigration, and, despite the risk of political backlash, to develop actual immigration policies. This trend now appears to be on the wane.

French Support British Deportation Policy

BBC News | EUROPE | Winning French approval

Far from bridling at the notion of economic migrants being forced back onto the ferries at Dover and crowding out the already over-stuffed Sangatte centre, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy sees the British initiative as broadly positive.

Intriguing article on why the French are sympathetic to a British policy of expulsions that lands them with the immigrants. Article speculates that the French believe that if Britain is not perceived as easy on asylum-seekers, there will be fewer transiting through France seeking to go to England. Moreover, putting expulsion on the agenda, suits the right-center French government: "Raising the question of carrying out (expulsions) should not be a taboo in a state governed by the law," (French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy).

Effects of changing Danish asylum policy

Immigration stance deters asylum-seekers -- The Washington Times

The publicity that has greeted Denmark's policy is thought to have prompted a big decline in the number of asylum-seekers, which dropped from 3,033 in the first three months of 2001 to 1,877 in the same period this year.

It is becoming clear that the change in European countries' openness to asylum-seekers is having its desired efffect. What is less clear of course is what is happening to those who would have applied. Are they staying home? applying to other countries? or entering illegally?

UNHCR warns Europe not to make scapegoats of asylum-seekers

U.N. rejects European refugee fears Reuters, June 1, 2002

The office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said asylum-seekers, many fleeing oppressive political regimes, were being unfairly portrayed as being a large part of the illegal immigration problem.

"There are many problems managing immigration in Europe...(but) asylum-seekers form only a smallish part of the overall immigration picture," UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters.

Article makes clear that the number of asylum-seekers is not that vast, and in fact half the level of the early 1990s. What the article does not mention is that public opinion, if the German experience of the early 1990s is to serve as our guide, does not distinguish between different kinds of immigrants. Thus governments can easily score political points by "cracking down" on groups that are not at the heart of the problem.