Asylum hunt ‘will wound economy’

Date: 03/03/05

IT IS open season against asylum-seekers, judging by some of the EU's leading politicians.

Britain's Conservatives are making a tough anti-immigration policy one of the main selling points of its general election manifesto. First, Tory leader Michael Howard threatened to withdraw from the Geneva Convention, the cornerstone of international law on refugee protection in the unlikely event that he becomes prime minister. Next he unveiled a plan to subject immigrants to mandatory tests for HIV and tuberculosis.

In Denmark, the xenophobic Danish People's Party did well in last month's general election. Although it was not formally part of the last government, it successfully used its leverage with the minority Liberal administration of Anders Fogh Rasmussen to have one of Europe's most restrictive migration systems introduced in 2002. Other states are considering emulating the Danes. Belgium's Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has been in Copenhagen recently to learn how the regime works.

In France three men have been told they will go on trial in May for allegedly violating security on a Paris-Dakar flight. The men, including a Libération reporter, protested against the violence that a policeman on board used to restrain a Congolese migrant who was being deported to Senegal.

Bucking the repressive trend, Spain has granted an amnesty to up to a million unauthorised residents in the country. But this move was heavily criticised by German Interior Minister Otto Schilly who warned that those 'regularised' could move freely to France and Germany (a hotly disputed claim, given that they would only have legal status in Spain).

Because of that reaction, EU justice and interior ministers last month raised the possibility of setting up an early warning system, whereby member state would their counterparts advance notice of major immigration initiatives.

Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice, freedom and security wants a two-pronged approach to asylum and migration.

He told Germany's Bundestag last month that greater attention should be paid to abuses of the asylum procedure. "Focus should be given to getting efficient administrative decision-making procedures on return [of asylum-seekers whose applications are rejected], reintegration schemes and entry procedures that deter unfounded requests and combat networks of people traffickers," he said.

Frattini plans a €15 million scheme for expelling failed asylum-seekers. The Commission said it will also publish a code of 'minimum standards' for detaining migrants prior to their expulsion.

Yet Frattini also wants to have "a realistic approach" to migration given the fluctuating demands for additional workers in EU countries. He has undertaken to present an action plan for so-called economic migration at the end of 2005.

Despite Frattini's contention that the asylum system is being abused, a new report by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) points out that "since the attainment of refugee status remains practically the only entry route into Europe, all those willing to migrate are forced down this route, which is getting narrower and narrower".

The only exceptions, says one of the report's authors Markus Babo, are cases where people can be reunited with a family member who has been granted asylum and for migrants with high-level qualifications.

The JRS voices concern about how EU countries are resorting increasingly to detaining asylum-seekers immediately after arrival. Ethical and human rights concerns aside, locking up people who could otherwise be working is costly to taxpayers. Data from Italy's Bologna region suggests that detaining someone there costs €2,670 per month - almost €700 more than the average national household income.

Babo argues that detention could only be justified if the volume of asylum bids was so high that processing them without detention would be impossible. This, he adds is not the case. "Only a fraction of worldwide refugee migrations reaches Europe," he says. "There were 10.5m refugees throughout the world in 2002, of which only 2.3m came to Europe."

Murdered Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn built a successful political movement with the slogan 'Holland is full'. But such populist claims often belie reality. Far from being full, the working-age populations of many EU countries is declining. The International Organisation for Migration predicts that there will be only 163m people in the 15-64 age bracket in western Europe by 2050 - nearly 100m fewer than today.

A paper by the Centre for European Policy Studies says that Spanish-style amnesties only offer a short-term response. With demographic changes causing an acute need for extra labour, it says a constructive approach to migration could help achieve the oft-cited Lisbon Agenda goal of turning the EU into the world's economic powerhouse.

Analysis feature which looks at recent trends in policies on asylum and immigration in the EU Member States and at the EU level.