The internal migration policy of the eu essay

The internal migration policy of the European Union Table of Contents 1Statement of independent work2 2Preface, Introduction3 3History, Development and Policies5 4Recent results5 4. 1Meeting in Tampere6 4. 2Schauble-Sarkozy paper6 5Living Europe Safely – Work program for the German EU Presidency (1.

1. 07–30. 6. 07)8 5.

1Fighting illegal migration; preventing visa fraud8 5. 2Improving returns8 5. 3Protecting refugees – expanding cooperation8 5. 4Managing legal immigration9 5. 5Protecting the external borders – strengthening FRONTEX9 6Austria and migration9 7Sources11 Statement of independent workI declare that I drew up this paper totally independent and without the help of anybody else. I did not use other sources than indicated and ensure that I made a literal note of those sources I did use. ____________________ Preface, Introduction I’d like to say that this topic lies at my heart, especially because I come from a city in Upper-Styria, which has a major problem with migrants (13.

5% migrants, estimated number of unreported cases is almost double the amount). People have prejudices and aren’t feeling safe any more. Crimes and fights increased drastically; most of them actually are racial conflicts. That’s the reason why I’d like to concentrate on this tropic.

First of all I’d like to start with a definition of migration. I looked it up in the dictionary and found this: Migration The process by which, over a period of time, people living in one area gradually move into another region perhaps some distance away. Such movements occur mainly through the physical transfer of small groups (families and extended families) at a time, the incomers making their new homes in the midst of the existing occupants of the area, although as the migrants become the dominant social group various social tensions may build up. Since the foundation of the EU, a lot has changed for the European countries. Even though there are still some opponents and critics, we can clearly see that the EU brought a lot of advantages and made the country richer and better to live in.

Austria joined the EU in 1995 and now, 12 year later, we can outline the positive, as well as the negative things, that occurred. I’d like to focus on a particularly serious topic, which became a huge problem in the last few years, namely the problem of migration in Europe. Particularly the middle of Europe (among others Germany, Austria and France), has been a major pole of attraction for migrants, and still is. This is mostly because of the region’s relative prosperity and its respect for human rights and the rule of law. The European Union and its Member States face enormous pressure from illegal immigration, as people from third-world countries seek to enter the EU, often at risk to their lives and by relying on human smugglers who take advantage of them.

The high numbers of desperate boat people from Africa landing on the shores of Southern Europe have shocked European societies. Illegal immigrants are trying to get in; not only via the EU’s southern sea borders, but also at its eastern and south-eastern land borders. People from the poor countries often think that the EU regions are wonderful places to live in, they associate it with paradise. Obviously they have nothing to lose and risk everything to come to Europe, no matter what it takes. Suddenly, when they have made their way to a richer country, they will recognise that it’s not that easy to survive as they have thought. So the only way to get through the day is to deal with some illegal matters.

That results in crime, violence, anger and fear, so a huge lack of safety for everybody. Consequently enough, the EU considers migration to be one of the most visible challenges of globalisation. The EU realised that it’s important to actively design a widespread European migration policy to work together on managing migration and to find a way for Member States to meet their immigration needs without causing problems for other States, while forming a common front against illegal migration.

A common European approach to manage migration is to analyse the reasons for migration and the result is the method of fighting poverty in the migrants’ countries of origin and to provide humanitarian aid. It’s easy to say but so much harder to do. The EU is trying to handle this problem as good as possible but there is still a lot to decide and to realise. The introduction of immigration restrictions and control measures may have slowed the inflow into Western Europe, but generally have not succeeded in stopping it. Obviously it can never be stopped, but successfully reduced. Prevention of unwanted migration has become one of the top policy priorities of States across Europe in the last couple of years.

History, Development and Policies It all began with the establishment of the EEC in 1957. This community introduced the free movement of workers within this community for the first time. However, in order to eliminate internal border controls, it was also necessary to agree on common measures on visa, migration and asylum. In the so-called ‘ Schengen Agreement’, Germany, France and the Benelux States established a free movement of persons within the ‘ Schengen area”. In order to avoid a loss of security (because of the elimination of border controls), instruments, like automated search systems, were implemented. Then the ‘ Dublin Convention’ was adopted in 1990. Its aim was to avoid multiple asylum applications.

It guaranteed that the applications could only be processed by the Member State in which the asylum-seeker first arrived in the EU. The ‘ Maastricht Treaty’ was established 2 years later. In the 3rd pillar, the treaty formally recognised ‘ justice and home affaires” as matters of common interest. However, this improvement was more or less an institutionalisation of the existing internal agreements than a new competence of the EU. The ‘ Treaty of Amsterdam’ (1997) set out the legal bases for the creation of a European migration policy. Objectives were rules on visas, procedures for checks on persons crossing the EU’s external borders and standards for granting and withdrawing asylum and migrant status.

The European Council of Tampere (1999), Laeken (2001) and Sevilla (2002) implemented further directions and regulations concerning the EU migration policy. 0. Recent results The Commission’s Communication on Migration and Development emphasised the importance of cooperation with migrant sending countries on economic migration. Just recently, EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers have outlined proposals for a more effective management of migration flows, as well as for better avoidance of illegal immigration. 1. Meeting in TampereAt the informal ministerial meeting in Tampere in September 2006 (Finland held the Presidency, that’s why the meeting was in Tampere) the ministers stressed the need for a common European asylum system and for more efficient border controls. They should strive for a complete and logical European Migration Policy which effectively dealt with both the opportunities and the problems of migration in a globalised world.

European Migration Policy has to combine social, economic, security and development issues. The ministers also outlined the clear differentiation between asylum policy, hich should follow humanitarian goals, and migration policy, which should be directed towards economic goals. [1] 2. Schauble-Sarkozy paper The meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers from the six biggest member states (UK, Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Italy) in late October 2006, provides some useful proposals for an a European Migration Policy. They suggest that EU asylum policy should be centralised, that long-term economic immigration should be managed by quotas and that short-term immigration should be regulated by temporary visas. They could stay for up to one year on a national ticket as temporary workers or they could stay longer on an EU immigration ticket. Temporary workers are then only permitted to work on a specific contract offered by an EU employer and issued by a single EU nation.

This means that they have to find a European employer who is willing to pay a fee for a temporary work permit. This fee should flow into the national budget. Family members of the temporary worker would not be allowed to work or to move their residency away from the owner of the permit. The validity of the temporary work permit should be restricted to one year to avoid the well-known problems of the guest-worker programmes. Temporary workers are not entitled to work for another employer or to move from one place to another in the EU. After this period the contract would have to be renewed. The national governments would decide how many workers from outside the EU they were willing to accept.

They would also fix the level of the fee and collect it. People from outside who want to stay longer than a year could become permanent residents if they fulfil certain criteria that are defined on an EU-wide level. The right to stay permanently could be obtained either for humanitarian reasons through international asylum law or via an economically driven selection process. There would be several ways to become a permanent EU resident via economic criteria. Once allowed in, permanent immigrants should have the same rights and duties as natives.

They could bring their family members along. Accepted immigrants and their family members could stay and work within the EU and decide where they wanted to live and for how long. The permanent residents should not be restricted in connection with changing jobs or moving from one location and one employer to another. The annual quota of new permanent residence permits for foreigners should be fixed by the EU Commission. Coordinated measures are needed at EU level to maximise the benefits of migration for all countries concerned and for migrants themselves, and to minimise the negative effects on the sending and receiving societies. The Schauble-Sarkozy paper should become more than just an informal proposal, it should become the foundation for a new European Migration Policy. 2] Living Europe Safely – Work program for the German EU Presidency (1. 1.

07–30. 6. 07) Germany currently holds the Presidency in the EU. Since Germany in special has a huge problem with migration and violence, the State, with its head Mrs Merkel, has chosen, among others, this topic which has to be discussed during the Presidency.

Here is an outline of the main objectives in terms of safety: 3. Fighting illegal migration; preventing visa fraud It is planed to push the reform of the common visa law by means of a ‘ visa code’. Further, the prerequisites for closer cooperation between consulates of the Schengen partners need to be created.

The Visa Information System, short VIS, makes it possible to record and compare data of visa applicants, including fingerprints and photographs. The VIS should become a key element in fighting illegal migration as well as international terrorism and organised crime. Police and security authorities should have access to this system.

4. Improving returns There should be an improvement with returns of third-country nationals compelled to leave the country. The EU needs to work closely together with the third-world countries, to simplify this procedure. 5. Protecting refugees – expanding cooperation The aim is to protect refugees and prevent fraud.

The Member States should apply provisions regarding law on asylum and refugees equally. There will be cooperation with the Member States’ asylum authorities. 6.

Managing legal immigration There will be a discussion of the necessity, extent and contents of European regulations in the field of legal migration and possible EU measures with reference to a European strategy on legal immigration. . Protecting the external borders – strengthening FRONTEX Effective protection of the EU’s common external borders is essential in order to deal effectively with illegal immigration and ‘ human trading’. Additionally, the Member States are responsible for protecting the external borders.

The goal for the near future is to strengthen FRONTEX. Explanation of FRONTEX: It’s the external border security agency of the European Union and responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the national border guards in ensuring the security of the EU’s borders with Non-Member States. 3] Austria and migration Here a few current figures from Austria concerning migration and asylum:[4] The biggest amounts of migrants come from the following countries: 1. Serbia & Montenegro 2. Russia 3. India 4.

Turkey 5. Moldau In 2005, there have been approximately 117, 800 ‘ moving in’s’ in Austria. In terms of the resident population of Austria, that corresponds to a migration balance rate of 6‰. This rate results mainly from foreigners. It can be clearly seen that there have been more migrations from foreigners than emigrations from Austrians.

The comparison between the nine Austrian states shows that Vienna is the main target of the migrants. Austria is politically involved in this topic. Especially Mrs Ferrero Waldner, the former minister of foreign relations of Austria in the Parliament, is concerned about it and supports the EU. In August 2006 she gave a detailed speech, in which she called for a cooperative European Migration and Asylum Policy. She said that Europe also needed a more open debate on the integration of migrants. It was now Europe’s task to grant immigrant young people better perspectives on the labour market. This could only be achieved through good cooperation between the European States. [5] Sources Book: Migration, Immigration and Social Policy Edited by: Catherine Jones Finer Internet: www.

europe. eu www. eu2007. de: Homepage of the current presidency of Germany www.

statistik. at, www. wko. at: for the statistics www. standard. at ———————– [1] www. eu2006. fi [2] http://www.

ecre. org/files/ECRAN_Weekly_Update_12_Jan_2007. pdf [3] www. wikipedia. org [4] www.

statistik. at [5] (Austrian newspaper: Der Standard)