E.U. immigration laws bordering on xenophobia?

By Batuk Gathani

BRUSSELS, JULY 26. According to current estimates, some five lakh illegal immigrants a year are seeking entry - illegally - into the prosperous European Union countries via Italy's Adriatic Sea coastline to seek better economic opportunities.

Ostensibly, they seek `political asylum' on the grounds that they are fleeing oppression in their home countries but over 90 per cent of them are often classified as `economic migrants'. All this is happening despite the E.U. Governments adopting draconian new immigration rules.

In political terms, this is rated as a cynical attempt on the part of a majority of the E.U. Governments to win votes by pandering to xenophobia. Most immigrants seeking the Italy route come from Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, North and West Africa and Eastern Europe.

The tough immigration laws highlight the xenophobia which fuels more racism, and human rights activists denounce them as - in a global era - the European companies are becoming direct beneficiaries of economic globalisation.

The U.S. attracts far more legal and illegal immigrants than the E.U. countries, but the U.S. authorities are not seen pandering to the European-style xenophobia. Last year, more than 2,500 immigration aspirants died trying to get into western Europe, according to an expert.

The flow of immigrants into Europe has doubled within a decade with rising tide of prosperity and welfare benefits in Europe. In recent decades, the flow of immigrants has changed the ethnic profiles of major European cities.

For example, nearly 25 per cent of voters in London are of non- British origin. Berlin has the world's largest Turkish and Palestinian population outside Turkey and West Asia. It is also a reality that almost a fifth of entrepreneurs in London belong to ethnic communities mainly from India. Both in Britain and the U.S., the Indian ethnic minority communities are rated as the richest after the Jewish communities. In Germany, the Turks own many small businesses and are self-employed, but a fifth of children born in Berlin cannot speak German.

A recent survey commissioned by the E.U. reveals that a third of the respondents consider themselves as `racist' and nearly 50 per cent felt their countries would be better off without immigrants though many of them usually undertake menial jobs that the indigenous people resent.

Many European Governments are seen tightening the already tough immigration laws. They hold airlines and transport companies responsible for illegal immigrants and are proposing more hefty fines. The criminal gangs who traffic in human cargo both inside and outside Europe are flourishing.

Mr. Vitorino, the E.U. Commissioner (Minister) for Justice and Home Affairs, recently warned that the Governments should ``face fact that the zero-immigration policies of the past 25 years are not working.''

In Germany, the authorities have revised the strict citizenship laws to enable some seven million foreigners to secure a German passport. The German initiative came after a protected and emotional national debate in various forums and Parliament, which now recognise that post-war Germany has transformed into a multi- cultural society.

The new German law reduced the required residency in Germany from 18 to 15 years. The most important aspect of the new citizenship law is that it grants dual citizenship to foreign children born in Germany and stipulates that at least one parent should have lived in Germany for a minimum eight years. Then by the age of 21, the foreign children must decide whether to keep a German passport or that of its parents.

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Section  : International
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