Immigration Laws: March, 2002 - Number #8

The European Commission in February 2002 said that there is too little worker mobility in Europe despite freedom of movement guarantees that require, for instance, a German to be treated on an equal basis with a French national when applying for most non-government jobs in Paris. The commission concluded that few EU workers sought jobs in other EU countries because insufficient occupational mobility, low levels of geographical mobility and poor access to information on mobility; it made 25 recommendations to increase worker mobility.

Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou said that EU-member states need to take four steps to increase labor market flexibility and mobility: find the correct link between the education system and labor markets; overcome the problem of mutual recognition of qualifications and work experience; transfer pension rights and health rights more easily; and speed up the implementation of the common policy on immigration.

Only 225,000 people- less than 0.1 percent of the total EU population -- changed their official residence by moving between two EU countries in 2000; about 2.5 percent of US residents move between states each year. Some 1.2 percent of Europe's residents moved between regions in 1999, compared with 5.9 percent of US residents who moved from one US county to another. Europeans have been with their employers for longer periods than US workers: 16 percent of EU workers were with their employer for less than a year in 2001, compared to 30 percent in the United States.

In addition to increasing mobility within the EU, the commission wants to allow non-EU nationals settled in one EU country to move to another. On February 4, 2002, by a 408 to 89 vote, the 626-member European Union parliament approved a nonbinding resolution that calls for legally resident non-EU foreigners in the EU at least three years to be treated like EU citizens in social benefits and employment, training and working conditions. The resolution says that non-EU nationals should have "a set of uniform rights which are as near as possible to those enjoyed by EU citizens."

There were 11 million non-EU nationals in the European Union in 2000, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). They included five million in Germany, 2.25 million in France, one million in Britain, 500,000 in the Netherlands and Italy, and 400,000 in Belgium.

Antonio Vitorino, European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, said on July 9, 2001, that 1.8 million foreigners had their status regularized since 1974 in the seven countries with legalization programs--Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Immigration. Europe's working age population (15-64) is expected to remain stable at 245 million over the next two decades: "The Commission proposes, therefore, that the Union recognise the realities of the situation of today: that on the one hand migratory pressures will continue and that on the other hand in a context of economic growth and a declining and aging population, Europe needs immigrants. In this context our objective is not the quantitative increase in migratory flows but better management in qualitative terms so as to realize more fully the potential of immigrants' admitted."

The EU's social and employment commission said: "A declining EU workforce due to demographic changes suggests that immigration of third country nationals would also help satisfy some of the skill needs [in the EU]… Reforms of tax benefit systems may be necessary to help people make up their minds to move to a location where they can get a job...while ensuring that the social objectives of welfare systems are not undermined." The commission estimated that the EU will have a "deficit" of 1.7 million workers in information and communication technology industries in 2003.

Enlargement. The 15-nation EU plans eventually to incorporate 12 additional countries. That will add 60 million people, 10 percent of whom are Gypsies or Roma, to the existing population of 380 million. Once they become EU nationals, Roma will be free to move anywhere in the EU, and many are expected to move from eastern to western Europe to escape high unemployment and discrimination. Many Western European nations fear the arrival of larger numbers of Roma. The UK, for example, established an immigration booth in Prague airport to screen travelers to the UK, attempting to stop those who might work illegally or apply for asylum.

There are about 300,000 Roma in the Czech Republic and about 520,000 in Slovakia. In 1958, a Czechoslovak law known as the Traveling Proscription Act banned nomadic lifestyles, an effort to get Roma to settle. The Traveling Proscription Act was repealed in the Czech Republic in 2000, but remains in effect in Slovakia.

The Italian government, once an ardent supporter of the EU, is becoming less friendly to the EU under conservative prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. One Italian leader said: "Those who wanted the unification of Europe had the memory of World War II, and wanted a framework that would make events like that more unlikely. They achieved that." After a common EU defense and foreign policy, "anything that could be done better at the national level should be."

The Convention on the Future of Europe opened March 1, 2002, with the aim of producing a new European constitution by June 2003 to accommodate decision making in an expanded EU. Newspapers across Europe treated the launch as an historic moment, comparing it to the gathering in Philadelphia in 1787 where George Washington, James Madison and others wrote the constitution of the newly independent United States. The EU constitution must balance power between the central EU government and the governments of the member states.

Illegal Migration/Terrorism. The Spanish presidency of the EU wants to open debate on a global plan that would cover all aspects of the fight against illegal immigration and traffickers. Spain wants to implement the action plan approved by the EU summit in Laeken, Belgium, in December 2001, to coordinate the issuance of visas, border controls, repatriation and readmission policies, police cooperation and intelligence sharing.

The first steps toward such cooperation were taken after September 11. Beginning in 2003, EU-member countries will issue Europe-wide search and arrest warrants, adopt a common definition of terrorist crimes and punishments, and publish a list of terrorist organizations. The next item on the agenda is how to deal with extradition from the EU to the US; many EU nations do not extradite persons who face the death penalty in the country to which they are sent.

Some 500,000 foreigners a year are believed to be smuggled into the EU, and the European Commission is urging that unauthorized migrants who assist the police against smugglers receive six-month residence permits. Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain grant temporary residence to foreigners who assist police against traffickers; France and Greece are considering such programs.

The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) released a report in February 2002 that estimated that 700,000 people a year are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. The ODCCP launched a global television campaign in January 2001 warning women about the dangers of falling victim to trafficking. The video has been broadcast in 35 countries in nine languages-- English, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Swahili, Hausa and German.

The European Commission periodically reviews its progress. In a review of the EU's accomplishments in the area of freedom, security and justice, the commission concluded that "progress has been slower and less substantial than expected" in developing a common asylum and immigration policy. The commission laid out its recommendations in November 2000 in the Communication on a Community Immigration Policy (COM(2000)757) and the Communication on a Common Asylum Procedure and a Uniform Statute valid throughout the Union for persons who are granted asylum (COM(2000)755).