EU Views on North African Refugees

     This blog post will seek to explain the complex political and legal policies surrounding illegal immigration to Europe from North Africa. In it will be discussed the specific policy adjustments around immigration made by European countries, specifically Italy, Germany and France, as well as the requests and suggestions of the leaders of Libya, Chad and Niger, which provide a large majority of the immigrants who traverse the Mediterranean every year. It is also important to examine the difference in opinion on refugees themselves and how to deal with them. While some countries like Germany have been very welcoming, others have not.

What action have different states taken to help or prevent this mass migration?

     As mentioned in prior posts, the issue of illegal immigration from North Africa to Europe is not a new one, it is something that leaders of countries on both sides of the Mediterranean are working towards solving. No clear solution has been found as of yet, due to the difficulty of balancing the complex needs of each nation involved to both be humane to foreigners while protecting the interest of their own citizens. Stark contrasts of approach can be seen between the two countries most affected by the recent boom in immigration: Italy and Germany.

Image from: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/eu-immigration-infographic/index.html

     In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel implemented an, “Open Border” policy, allowing unprecedented numbers of refugees and asylum seekers into the country in a 6 month period due to the “Crisis” in Syria. This decision was met with mixed reactions, as many Germans embraced the move and many others decried it, leading to a surge in membership for the country’s far-right political party. The decries strengthened after the Cologne attacks on New Years of 2016, where nearly one thousand women were sexually assaulted at COlogne’s central train station. Those who witnessed the assaults claimed that it was North African immigrants who committed these crimes. Since then, they have tightened restrictions a little bit in response to public outcry regarding a crimewave allegedly perpetrated by North African immigrants, however Merkel has largely defended her decision, using everything from moral arguments to claims that immigrants will help the automobile industry. As of the beginning of the year, Germany was the second most popular immigration destination behind the United States, receiving about 1.1 million refugees in 2015. Because of this, Germany is asking that mandatory quotas be implemented across the EU.

     Meanwhile, the Italian government has long been taking steps to curb the flow of migrants into the country. In 2009, illegal immigration officially became a criminal offense for the first time in the history of the country, likewise so did aiding or housing an illegal immigration. More recently, they have partnered with the Libyan coast guard to turn back boats full of migrants and has supplied additional support in many of the nation’s ports to assist in inspection and regulation to cut back on the number of boats in the water to begin with. These policies have been successful, with a 70% decline in the number of migrants reaching Italy from Libya in August compared to the prior months, although many believe this has more to do with the developments within Libya than anything happening outside the borders.

     In August of 2017 the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Niger, Chad and Libya met in Paris to discuss solutions to the migration crisis. While many solutions were discussed, those brought forward by the African leaders focused on getting to the root causes of the crisis and not curbing the symptoms. The root of the issue, as they see it, is a lack of economic opportunity in their own nations paired with their lack of border security. In response to these complaints, the European nations involved pledged 60 million euros to aiding the economies of the North African countries and reduce the appeal of human trafficking. Italy also made an additional agreement directly with several Libyan governors to help their specific cities economically. Libya has also asked for support in policing its own southern border, as the country is often used as a smuggling route from the rest of Africa to Europe, this request has not yet been met.

How do the countries of the EU view immigration? 

     The influx of refugees from North Africa as well as other places has European Union members divided. In order to combat the problem there needs to be a certain amount of cooperation and common understanding among the EU nations but this cannot happen if every country has a different view on how to deal with refugees and on the refugees themselves. The concerns of states encompass broadly whether to let refugees in or not but also the effect that they might have socially, economically, and politically.

Where do these views come from? How did they develop over time?

     With the recent influx of immigrants from North Africa into the EU, the response of the states has not been all positive. Generally, Europeans view refugees as increasing “the likelihood of terrorism” (Poushter, 2016). According to a 2016 survey, the possible acts of terrorists treats the refugees could produce in which 59% of 10 countries in the EU were concerned about the increased threat of terrorism (Poushter, 2016). This fear of terrorist activity among Europeans is not random. The past two summers Europe has been the victim of terrorist attacks in the form of shootings, bombings, and and vehicles being driven into large crowds of civilians. The link of these attacks to ISIS has caused many to view muslims in a very negative light causing more discrimination towards refugees that are coming from places that have ISIS strongholds like Syria, Iraq, and North Africa. Of course, not all refugees are Muslim but are often characterized so and discriminated if they come from majority Muslim countries.

     When it comes to integration into European society, states do not find that the diversity created by the influx of refugees is benefitting their countries. In places like Greece and Italy, “more than half said that increasing diversity makes the country a worse place to live” (Poushter, 2016). Additionally, Europeans feel that refugees are a “burden to society” (Poushter, 2016) and that they will be given jobs and social benefits that they feel they deserve. 

     Although still thoroughly divided on a lot of issues that regard refugees, Europeans are unanimously unsatisfied with the way that the EU is handling the crisis. Italy, that is a “gateway for migrants”, especially from “war-torn Libya” are largely unhappy “that some EU partners are so unwilling to share the migrant burden” (BBC, 2016). Similarly, in Greece, EU partners are unsatisfied with the number of unchecked refugees entering the country but at an estimated 120,000 refugees having entered the country in 2016, “Greece insists that it cannot become Europe's holding centre for migrants - it demands fair burden-sharing” (BBC, 2016).

     This dissatisfaction is also high among right-wing anti-immigration parties in several countries like “Britain (UK Independence Party), Germany (Alternative for Germany) and the Netherlands (Party for Freedom)” (Poushter, 2016).

     According to the official EU website about migration, they strive to assure a well managed and improved integration measure to assure the process is efficient and well done. They also encourage mobility, assure policy making is efficient, and promote legal migration as well as preventing irregular migration. It is only logical the EU, one of the top powers of the world have migration policies, but are currently not being used efficiently. According to the EU, more citizens are become less patient and more angry with how the EU is handling the situation. Alongside their fear of what Muslims could bring they are also unaware of how long this “disturbance” will continue on for. They are scared and frustrated with the whole situation and wish to see an end.