Call for EU citizenship for migrants

Date: 01/05/1997

By Simon Coss

ANTI-RACISM groups are stepping up their campaign for full EU citizenship to be granted not only to the 12 million third-country nationals living and working legally in the Union, but also to some 'illegal' immigrants.

The anti-racism alliance UNITED for Intercultural Action argues that anyone who has lived in the Union for three years has, in effect, become a member of European society and should thus enjoy the same rights as other citizens.

“If you have been somewhere for a certain time, you should have the right to take part in society,” said spokeswoman Saskia Daru, who points out that in some member states, the grandchildren of people who came to live in the country before they were born are still not afforded automatic citizenship.

UNITED says there are already several million 'illegal' immigrants in the EU. “They desperately need a regularisation of their status, such as has taken place in Portugal, Spain and Italy,” it said in a recent report.

But critics say the organisation is being naïve in the extreme and is effectively calling for Europe's doors to be opened to all-comers and no questions asked.

Citizenship and the rights of third-country nationals will be discussed at a conference next Monday (5 May) organised by the lobbying group Euro Citizen Action Service (ECAS). It takes a far more moderate line than UNITED, but nevertheless argues that people should be able to apply for citizenship once they have been legally resident in the Union for over five years.

But for the time being, both organisations seem to be fighting a losing battle. Far from going down the route they suggest, many member states are introducing increasingly tough rules on immigration, such as France's loi Debré, which obliges citizens to inform the authorities of the movements of third-country nationals on private visits.