Europe Defends Itself from Foreigners

The EU summit in Tampere resolved: from now on all EU member states, acting under previously signed accords, will combine efforts in combating illegal migration.

Nothing strange about this, or so it seemed; Europeans are building a single legal framework. And every country has the right to figure out how best to handle the influx of immigration.

Also, the latest developments in Kosovo, Timor, North Africa, and Pakistan should have boosted the number of refugees headed for the developed countries, which, of course, would cause their leaders a major headache.

Yet the latest annual OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) report contains statistics pointing to a degree of stabilization in the influx since the last Balkan war, and the increment registered is insignificant. As for the immigrant-citizen ratio, it is also stable, ranging from 35% in Luxembourg to 2% in Spain and Italy.

Moreover, recent European history shows that it was thanks to the immigrants' backbreaking labor — all those Turks, Portuguese, Italians, Arabs, et al. — that Germany and France were rebuilt after World War II and regained and multiplied their strength. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, getting jobs in Europe was not only perfectly legal but welcomed. German authorities also allowed laborers from Communist countries, Poles and former Yugoslavs, to earn an extra mark. Britain and France were traditionally filled with people from their former colonies. But apparently the Europeans now have decided that enough is enough. The victory of a party campaigning under xenophobic slogans in Austria and today's resolution by 15 leaders of EU member states make it clear that legal migration to Europe is becoming increasingly difficult. It is quite possible that the two events are links of one chain.

Refugee representatives often complain that these people are forbidden to step farther than the ramp of their airplane, where they are required to hand entry requests to immigration officials (this must be done under the law, but in reality handling such petitions may last for years). In numerous interviews refugees and their lawyers state that authorities in EU countries openly ignore the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. INS officials in the United States (known for their draconian manner) are convinced that Europeans are leaving them far behind in their current practices.

Europeans do not want foreigners, not any more — well, except big spending tourists seeing the sights and buying souvenirs. Europe has drawn the line between itself and all those “aliens” — Turkey and Bulgaria in the south; Poland, Slovakia, and Romania in the east. And immigrants from Ukraine will be listed among the most unwelcome. European newspapers point out that it is easier to pass draconian laws than to overcome a Russian or Albanian Mafia making more money on truckloads of illegal immigrants than do drug-runners.