86 posts
The R-word
We know we need to talk about it, but who dares to pronounce it, the R-word? In the era of political correctness, no hot potato is a potato. Euphemisms encroach. We change candy wrappings, we are ready to give up school plays and customs not to offen...
The ECtHR on Conditions in Deportation Centre
I did recently translate the decision of the ECtHR as to the admissibility of application No. 14160/08 by Sergey Dolinskiy against Estonia, into the Estonian language. This is about a refused request for a residence permit and the subsequent detainme...
The return of a new generation – well-educated children of Turkish immigrants leave Germany
BERLIN — The roughly 2.7 million immigrants of Turkish origin in Germany have been at the center of the country’s debate on immigration and integration as long as the debate has existed. Now, almost 50 years after the first Turkish guest...
The End of Migration
Liberal Conspiracy carries an interesting piece by Jennifer O’Mahony on a continental campaign that encourages immigrants into one-day strikes. The idea is to make people realise the dependence of successful economies on migrant labour. From...
Geert Wilders: The first truly European politician?
I don’t like Geert Wilders, because, whereas I do agree with some of his conclusions, I’m loath to pigeonhole any group of people because of their religion. Muslims are no more all anti-democrats than Irish Catholics are all pedophiles. Y...
Immigration: Let’s Get Silly!
Sunny Hundal ponders the issue of immigration, and what it is about migration that sends rightwingers into a kind of frenzy: It boggles my mind that when it comes to immigration, Tories just go nuts. It’s like a red rag to a bull – they can’t p...
A migrants’ strike in Italy and France
A day without foreigners. This may seem a macabre commercial for the xenophobic Italian Northern League party, but it is actually the slogan of the general strike that has been called on 1st March by the migrants' communities in Italy and France.
Freedom to travel for Schengen migrants on long-stay visas
The current situation has led to thousands of complaints, says the European Parliament rapporteur Carlos Coelho. The Grahnlaw blog post Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel (3 February 2010) mentioned the travel res...
Inside UKBA
Someone at the UK Border Agency has blown the whistle on what appears to be a culture of cruelty and casual racism. The home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz, has called for an investigation following allegations that officials at one of...
Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel
There is a problem concerning circulation within the Schengen area without internal borders for third-country nationals legally residing in one of the Schengen states on the basis of a long-stay "D" visa issued by that member state: Lacking a residen...
PACE Addresses Property Issues of Refugees and IDPs
Permit me to highlight a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) last week on the issue of 'Solving property issues of refugees and displaced persons.' The resolution contains a set of recommendations for member states and is based on...
EU development funds to be used for fingerprinting refugees
Article from David Cronin for Inter Press Service published 13.11.2010, reproduced in full here: BRUSSELS: Aid traditionally reserved for keeping victims of war and disasters alive may now be used for security-related projects such as the fingerprint...
Nonsense on asylum
Two types of nonsense on display in the Daily Express today. The spark is a report that 124 illegal immigrants found on a beach in Corsica were set free by French judges rather than held in detention. It is thought likely by police and charity work...
18th February – Bologna – Salon Europa / Migration
European Alternatives organizes a new meeting as part of the Salon Europa series of events, which this time will be focused on immigration. With the writer Tahar Lamri and the journalists Eric Jozsef (Liberation) and Gabriele Del Grande (Fortress Eur...
Eurabia: No such thing
The Brookings’ Institution’s Justin Vaïsse takes apart the Eurabia myth in this excellent short piece inForeign Policy. He points out the concept’s stylistic links to fear of “Eurocommunism” in the 50s and general anti...
Cotonou Partnership Agreement: revision of article on Migration
Article 13 on ‘Migration’ is a priority issue for European Union member states in the revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). However, the ongoing revision process scheduled to be finalised at the end of February 2010 does not seem t...
The numbers game
A group of cross party Parliamentarians (including a former Archbishop of Canterbury) have released a statement (extracted and linked at ConservativeHome), saying that immigration is too high and that the population of the country should be capped at...
North Africa a Transit Region for International Migration
Copyright (C) Hein de Haas (2007), The Myth of Invasion In the year 2009 the European continent saw a decrease of 17 percent in irregular border crossings from the Southern Mediterranean rim. This sharp drop of the immigration flow headin...
Immigration to Denmark: Danish Green Card
If you go over articles below you will see that thee EU Countries – Britain, Denmark and Ireland may not participate in the EU Blue Card initiative. Wondering why? They already have their own ‘high-skilled’ immigration schemes. Before I mov...
Interview with Seyla Benhabib
Seyla Benhabib is a professor of political science and philosophy at Yale, and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher. She is the author of several books, most notably about the philosoph...
‘Welcome!’ gets Lux Prize and highlights painful debate
Immigration has certainly become an essential aspect of European identity. Finding who we are as Europeans means finding common references which enable a community spirit to take shape. Ultimately it also means comparing our peculiarities with others...
UKIP’s new leader, Lord Pearson
UKIP, love them or hate them, have been fairly consistent in one thing over the years – arguing against the EU because it is run by unelected bureaucrats. Just one of their arguments, perhaps – but the democratic deficit claim (though cer...
Electronic discussion on Migration and Rural development in ACP countries
It is increasingly recognized that migrants constitute an invaluable resource for development in their home countries. For many developing countries, remittances from overseas migrants exceed development aid and foreign direct investment volumes. But...
Step towards EU-funded flights for deportation of illegal immigrants
On Friday 30 October the EU Council reached agreement on the joint funding of flights to remove illegal immigrants from EU countries. This decision, the first of its kind, came after a week of fierce controversy surrounding France’s repatriation of...
Goose Chase: The New Immigration Rules in the UK
On the 19th of September 2009, a 19 year old Canadian woman was forced to fly back home as she was threatened to be deported from the United Kingdom. Rochelle Wallis, who had recently married a British man she had known for over two years, was separa...
Fortress Europe – War against refugees?
Via wikileaks I found this very interesting video, unfortunately only in German. If I had some time I would add subtitles (here is the text file). Although only a shorter version of the video was shown on German TV, it is quite a good example of EU r...
Migration road
I have arrived on the Greek Island of Samos to look at one of the main illegal migration paths into Europe. The islands in the Aegean Sea are the new front line, and Samos in particular has become the favoured...
If Odysseus was alive today, he would end up in an asylum camp
I am from Athens, Greece. I am 24 years of old. I grew up with a nanny from Philippines. During my adolescence I played at school with Albanian immigrant kids and now I have my car windscreen cleaned on the streets by immigrants from Pakistan. My gra...
What member states think about CIREFI
You have never heard about CIREFI, the Centre for Information, Discussion and Exchange on the Crossing of Frontiers and Immigration?Me neither. Until today.Apparently, it is a forum of national experts meeting every two months to exchange information...
The Odd Couple Continues Violations of Migrants Rights: News from Libya and Italy
ECRE’s (European Council of Refugees and Exiles) weekly bulletin (sign up here) has two interesting pieces of news regarding Italy, Libya and the future of the European asylum system. The responsible Commissioner, Jacques Barrot is going to Li...
The Limits of Immigration Policy 2
In my first post on the limits of immigration policy, I focused on structural factors that limit governments control over the number of immigrants, namely i) global economic and political inequalities, ii) the inefficiency and questionable human righ...
The Limits of Immigration Policy Part 1
Even though the number of asylum-seekers in Europe have decreased over the last years, several countries are introducing more restrictive policies. Italy´s human rights violating policy (see this blog for more), Greece’s persistent violations...
German Marshall Fund, Climate Change and Migration
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) launches a new transatlantic grantmaking initiative that investigates the impact of climate change on migration patterns. The initiative will convene leading experts on climate-induced migration to...
Blue Card Directive Published
Directive 2009/50/EC on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment has been published in the Official Journal. The directive defines the conditions of entry and residence of third-...
Italy, EU and Asylum: Myths of unfair “burdens”
Italy is pleading it´s fellow EU Member States to share the “burdens” of asylum seekers. The move comes as criticism is mounting towards the country for failing to comply with international human rights standards (see my previous post an...
Europe's Green Card is Blue
This report looks into the EU's program to encourage immigration of people who are highly skilled and trained....
Climate change and forced migration discussed in Bonn next week
The talks on a global climate change agreement continues this and next week in Bonn. One of the many side-event will focus only the issue of forced migration/displacement. The event is organized by the Norwegian Refugee Council and has many high leve...
European elections: immigration fears in Amsterdam
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Brussels-based think tank Bruegel coined the term "Blue Card"
On Monday, the EU Council agreed on a directive introducing an EU "Blue Card", which is supposed to be comparable to the US-American "Green Card" (press release), easing the access of highly qualified third-country (non-EU) workers to the EU countrie...
Migrants, europeans citizens?
More than 15 million permanent residents of the EU countries are migrants. However, few of them enjoy the same rights as the rest of European citizens. Moreover, certain countries grant more or less rights than others. Divide in order to rule better?
Migrants keep coming to Seville, Spain and the rest of Europe
But their rights as workers and humans are at stake, while the status of illegal or legal are being sorted out...
How to become an EU citizen or Citizenship for sale
EU citizenship is powerful stuff.Which may be why it is up for sale.Several Western and Northern EU Member States are substantially wealthier and in many ways more politically powerful than their Eastern EU neighbors. This discrepancy in national wea...
Towards a better EU migration policy
by Hugo BradyOver the last decade, EU countries have experienced a rapid rise in both legal and illegal migration, mostly from Turkey, Morocco, Albania, Algeria and Serbia. Each spring and summer, Mediterranean member-states struggle to cope as migra...
Europe is giving migrants the cold shoulder
We have all been witnesses to the unfolding of the 21st century’s economic crisis. Yes, we all know that these are the times of a global economic recession and each of us needs to find the best way to deal with it. In such situations, one of our b...
EU aims to develop policy on climate change and migration?
The EU's Global Approach to Migration is formulated these days in the EU. The Commission released in October a Communication with proposals on how the EU can have a more comprehensive and all encompassing policy towards all forms of migration. The in...
Climate Change, displacement and Poznan
The Climate Change Summit in Poznan kicked off yesterday, with a side event on climate change and displcement hosted by the UNHCR planned for Monday 08 December. There are currently no agenda or papers online, but the description from the Poznan side...
States threatened by climate change displacement takes matters into their own hands
The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Government of the Maldives is planning to buy up land through an investment fund in order to pre-empt their population status as climate refugees. This is the first initiative that I have heard o...
LABOUR LEADING THE WAY ON FIGHTING THE BNP
I make no apologies for featuring the work of Hope not Hate again, having covered them previously, here. Their latest message tells me about the BNP trying to use Jesus as a recruiting sergeant for them. The BNP are preparing a high profile billboard...
EU to clamp down on immigrant pests
The European Commission is planning a crackdown on immigration that is posing a threat to indigenous races and costing the EU taxpayer billions a year. In a rhetoric Enoch Powell would have been proud of, the commission said today it wanted to "deal...
EU aims to develop policy on climate change and migration?
The EU's Global Approach to Migration is formulated these days in the EU. The Commission released in October a Communication with proposals on how the EU can have a more comprehensive and all encompassing policy towards all forms of migration. The in...
Third country workers in the EU
bThe European Union is working on ablockquoteiCouncil Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country wo...
Circumstances breed compromise?
From the BBC News site: France’s anti-immigrant party, the National Front, is selling its headquarters to a Chinese university, according to the party leader. (…) Mr Le Pen, 79, has campaigned to become president several times under the s...
PES President on migration
At the PES activists Forum in Vienna, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen outlined how best to approach the migration issue. Recognising the need for "new minimum standards on how to treat migrant workers in Europe," he highlighted the impor...
POLITICS OF FEAR
Last week I blogged about the Italian Government's plan to fingerprint the Roma population, including children.p/p You can read my blog about our protest by clicking here: A href="http://maryhoneyballmep.blogspot.com/2008/07/ethnic-cataloguing-politi...
Immigration - towards an European migration policy
What should Europe do to deal with migration? And what should be the PES position on the issue? After the adoption by the European Parliament of the directive on the return of illegal immigrants, the question became (even more) crucial! Ant&oacut...
Is this real?
A story from the Guardian explains that a Moroccan woman has been denied French citizenship...
European NGOs condemn putting aid at the service of immigration control
span style="font-style: italic;"Source: a href="http://www.concordeurope.org/Files/media/internetdocumentsENG/5_Press/1_Press_releases/0_Press_release_2008/Migration-The-French-Presidency-presented-a-draft-European-pact-on-immigration-on-7-and-8-July...
Migration and Immigration Forum Begins
“We are freezing, but we are very excited to be here” was the reaction of the first group of American, African and European TFMI participants descending from the airport shuttle bus and pulling their suitcases across the gravel to Castle Hotel Po...
Immigrants to the EU held across the border
A Reuters story posted at New Migrant blog drew my attention at the prices involved for one to immigrate to the EU from Africa or Asia: In this former army barracks close to the western town of Mukachevo, Europe’s immigration debate comes to li...
Ireland's no vote: not about immigration
A WEEK after Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum, the European Commission has published the results of a "flash" opinion poll carried out on 2,000 voters. Some of the headline results had already been leaked in r...
The Paradox of Selective Immigration Policy
The paradox is that countries attempting to screen immigrants by skill level, so that they only get the more skilled ones, end up with an immigrant mix that is less skill-intensive than countries with open immigration. This apparently is a consensu...
Immigration: concerns over new measures in Italy
The new “security package” in Italy risks to fuel tensions and increase the cases of violence such as the attacks on Roma-settlements around Naples and Milan.As highlighted by the socialist MEPs in a hearing at the European Parliament on...
The Migration Mess
The EU currently finds itself in a conundrum. It is now a unified labour block where EU citizens can work in any member country. The benefits to this system are many, but at the same time Brussels has had to move quickly to harmonize labour rules acr...
