Immigration in Europe

Class 2 concentrated on Europe's fascinating history of immigration in the last century. Beginning with the first phase of immigration in the immediate post war years the turmoil experienced in the continent spurred thousands of refugees to move westwards from Eastern Europe to Germany and the Benelux. During this period France and the Netherlands began to experience their first waves of migration from their former colonial subjects. The cost of the war for the UK was huge not only in financial terms but also demographically speaking. The British nationality Act passed in 1948 went some ways towards addressing the shortcomings and creating 'citizenship' for all subjects of the throne. This act enabled the first waves of immigration to come from the West Indies in order to fill the labour gaps in the new Welfare State.
The second major phase occur ed between 1955 and 1960. Enabled by the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 workers from southern Europe began migrating to the north in order to fill the labour gaps created by post war reconstruction. However the first anxieties about immigration were beginning to be felt in the UK at this time and the Tory government signed into place the Commonwealth Immigration Act which began to limit the extensive rights that were enjoy by all citizens of the Commonwealth.
Phase 3 (190s-1973) is typified by the Gasterbeiter in Germany. Germany needing thousands of labourers to work on its building sites signed an agreement with Turkey in 1961 to allow 740,000 Turkish migrants to come and work in Germany. Initially this agreement allowed the 'guest workers' to come for 2 years and then to return. In 1964 this stipulation was abolished as Germany found itself needing more and more guest workers. The Turkish immigrants largely came from rural Eastern Turkey and spoke little or no German. The ramifications of this immigration policy are very much evident in today's' Germany with its very poor record of integration of the Turkish German community.
Various factors from beginning of the 1970s through to the 1980s caused Europe to begin to limit immigration. The Oil Shock in 1973, the ending of the Bretton Woods system, the Yom Kippur war, the second oil crisis following the Iranian Revolution all led to the end of economic recruitment of immigrants from outside of Europe. However, as the demand for migrants waned migration flows actually increased. This was primarily due to family reunification. For example, in Germany between 1981 and 1985 migration increased by nearly 100%. Following the end of the cold war thousands of ethnic Germans moved Westwards from the former Soviet countries seeking better lives in the economically advantageous west. Indeed the end of the cold war set the scene for the next wave of immigration into the EEC. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed thousands of former Yugoslavians flocked to the West to seek sanctuary. Indeed the 1990s saw great turmoil all over the world in Africa, Asia and South America which increased the worlds population of Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Peoples. The general atmosphere in Europe began to shift at this time to one of hostility towards migrants. This was most evident in the media where all migrants tended to be labeled as 'bogus refugees' set on exploiting the good nature of Western countries for economic gain.
In more recent times the emphasis in the EU has been shifting away from control in the immigration debate. Having achieved the highly restrictive policies of 'Fortress Europe' the EU has been turning its attention to integration of its ethnic minorities. The recent troubles in the Banlieus in France, the London and Madrid terrorist attacks, the head scarf affair, the Mohamed Cartoons, Geert Wilders Fitna movie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's books and the murder of Theo Van Gough have all led to the realisation that Europe is not doing enough to enable integration. The previous policies of Assimilation and, to a lesser extent, Multiculturalism, are being scrapped and Europe is looking for a new pathway. Next week's lecture will look at the policy responses to integration in the EU and what needs to be done. Please have a look at this article for next week http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1590190,00.html