In the aftermath of the euro-crisis, there is an
increased awareness (both in the hallways of the EU parliament and amongst the
citizens of Europe) that what is most needed is some type of political union. It
is my contention that the greatest threat to such a political union and any
sense of solidarity between the many people and nations that make up Europe is
the attack on free movement that first arose from several national right-wing
parties. Preventing free movement is a top priority for all these parties: Marie
Le Pen’s National Front in France, UK’s UKIP Party, Geert Wilder’s PVV party in
the Netherlands, Norway’s Defense League, Sweden’s Democrats, Hungary’s Justice
and Life Party, Bulgaria’s Attack Party, Austria’s Freedom Party, the Greek
neo-fascist Golden Dawn party, Germany’s new anti-euro party (AfD), and closer
to home the Flemish NVA Party led by Bart de Wever. All are expected to have record
high turnout in May 2014; several are also trying to join forces to form an
anti-European and anti-migration coalition. Their rhetoric that the euro-crisis and the rising unemployment
figures are all due to the free-movement policies is immensely successful, so
much so that it is being adopted by many more center and left-leaning parties. Within
Europe, their discourse attacks the most recent members of the EU, those from Bulgaria and Romania. From beyond the borders of the EU, their
discourse is one of a defense of the so-called Judeo-Christian tradition that
grounds Western and European civilization. Tragically, both of these positions
often boils down to a form of Islamophobia as the implicit assumption is that
free-movement has allowed for Muslims (the Jews of the 21st century)
to invade Europe. This point is even more acute this week with Monday being International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
If they
have their way in May 2014, Europe will shift so far to the right that it will,
like Humpty Dumpty, have a great big fall. The solution is that the voting
public needs to realize that immigrants, and
third-party nationals, are the
solution and not the problem. Here are three reasons why Europe needs to further
open the borders, rather than further restrict movement.
1.
The economic expense
of restricting free movement is excessive. David Cameron, among other leading European
politicians, is trying to keep this evidence from the public until after the
elections. It is not only a
historical truth that Europe could not have survived without immigration; it is
the current economic reality of all major European nations as demonstrated by Phillipe Legrain (LSE). The other economic cost is the rising budget of Frontex, the EU’s border management agency. While it’s
official budget was only €86 million (in 2013), this is only the administrative costs as all the
equipment costs (which are well into the billions) are taken directly from the
national budgets of the poorest European countries (who are required by EU
policy) to ‘control’ their borders.
2.
The ethical
price is too high to pay. As Nina Perkowski documents there have been almost 20 000 deaths from those
trying to get into Fortress Europe. This scandalous number does not include the
many, including the elderly, children and pregnant women, who have been
seriously injured, imprisoned or exiled all for wanting nothing more than a
better life for themselves or their loved ones.
3.
The controlling
of these borders, especially as implemented by Frontex since Eurosur (a
pan-European surveillance system) went live in December of 2013, has broken
many basic human rights and thus blatantly ignored the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union. These include the overcrowded and unhygienic
conditions in supposedly temporary prison cells, the ‘alleged’ use of torture,
etc.
(for the interactive map see:
http://frontex.europa.eu/trends-and-routes/migratory-routes-map)
If the above three reasons to open Europe’s
borders don’t convince you, perhaps the political or pragmatic truth will. As
long as pro-European parties continue to adopt the anti-immigration rhetoric of
the right and deny the importance of open borders, there is very little hope of
either economic or political solidarity in Europe. Political solidarity in a
democratic and just polity cannot be constructed upon a Schmittian friend/enemy
distinction; the ‘us’ cannot only exist as long as there is a ‘them’ to define
it.
What do you think? What way will Europe go? Is
there another issue that you think will be more pivotal than free movement?
