EU’s ethnic integration thrown into sharp relief by violence

Date: 25/11/04

By Véronique Vallières

Debate over the integration of ethnic minorities into European societies is climbing up the EU's agenda after a racist murder in Rotterdam last month.

For the Netherlands, which holds the presidency of the EU, the issue is of pressing concern.

A score of schools, mosques and churches were bombed and burnt. In the wake of this unrest, Dutch society has been questioning the success of its immigration policies.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, speaking before the European Parliament last week, said that the integration of immigrants made demands of both immigrant and host communities.

Balkenende told MEPs: “Integration also means respecting and abiding by the fundamental rules of our society: freedom of speech, freedom of belief, respect for the democratic rule of law, which should offer individuals the protection to which they are entitled.”

In Belgium, a convert to Islam was arrested last week after death threats were made to the Flemish deputy Mimount Bousakla, who had criticized the Moroccan community living in Belgium for being too segregated from the rest of society.

This segregation issue is very much alive in various EU states. Pakistan's High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Maleeha Lodhi, warned last weekend that immigrants' reluctance to integrate would play in the favour of extremists, such as supporters of the British National Party.

“Nobody's asking you to give up your religion, your culture, your traditions, but if you want to have an influence and impact on this society, you must be part of that society.

“You cannot isolate yourself and then expect people to listen to what your grievances are,” she said in an interview with the Leeds-based Yorkshire Post in the north of England.

At last week's meeting of justice and home affairs ministers (19 November), the Dutch presidency urged the EU to agree on common principles for integrating immigrants, although the precise measures will be determined by each member state.

Ministers agreed that an active contribution to society through education and employment was essential, but the most crucial element of successful integration was basic knowledge of the host country's language and history.

Claude Moraes, a British Socialist MEP and former head of the UK's joint council for the welfare of immigrants, said that EU countries should share their best practice in integrating immigrants.

“Britain is fabulous with settled communities but has a destructive policy on the new reception of asylum-seekers. It's not about naming and shaming but some countries are doing better in some aspects than others and this is why we have to help each other,” Moraes said.

Two weeks ago, the Commission presented its first European Handbook on Integration, which promotes measures to encourage the integration of newly-arrived immigrants, such as language courses and civic participation.

In July, the Commission presented a first annual report on immigration. It is now drawing up a proposal on the integration of refugees, which will be put forward for approval from José Manuel Barroso's team.

In a controversial bid to integrate immigrants in society, which Muslim communities perceived as a strategy of assimilation, the French government decided earlier this year to ban headscarves from public schools and buildings, defending its tradition of secularism. In Germany, which has more than three million Muslims, Bavaria has become the fifth federal state to adopt a ban on headscarves.

EU government leaders fear high numbers of immigrants and refugees flooding European cities.

Such fears have been exaggerated, as only half as many people now claim asylum in EU countries as they did in the early 1990s, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The more pressing issue, however, may be how best to live side-by-side with those immigrants who have already been living in the EU for years.

Article says that after the racist murder of Theo van Gogh in Rotterdam in November 2004, and a series of incidents in which a score of schools, mosques and churches were bombed and burnt, the debate over the integration of ethnic minorities into European societies is climbing up the EU's agenda.