The Philippine Online Chronicles

At a time when ideas, money and goods freely circumnavigate the globe, people crossing borders have never been more tightly controlled. Perhaps nowhere near as elaborate is the European Union’s system of border management. Third-country citizens, that is, people who are not citizens of EU member-states are categorized in groups. Highly skilled professionals are welcome. Low-skilled workers are undesirable. Political and environmental refugees are to be minimized. The task of policing of borders disproportionately falls on the countries at the periphery of the EU’s fortress. These are the PIGS – Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. But there are checks at each and every imaginary wall separating the EU nations. And member-countries are harmonizing domestic policies with EU-wide directives. Policing borders has even been “outsourced” to transit countries in Africa and Central and Eastern Europe.

Europe needs migrants

It has been notoriously difficult to measure the number of immigrant stocks in Europe due to varying definitions of 'immigrant.' Refugees and asylum seekers are usually excluded from the accounting, but ‘migrant’ can mean a temporary worker, a foreign student, a permanent resident or someone awaiting conferment of citizenship. The UN estimates the number at 64 million in 2005 while the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) pegs the number at 41 million in 2006. The EU's statistical agency Eurostat estimates 19.5 million third-country citizens living in the EU’s 27 member-countries in 2008. The disparity in numbers points to a need to standardize data collection and recording but the slow progress in these areas only reflects the highly political nature of what would appear to be an innocuous matter – population. The different member states would like to continue exercising sovereign control over who can enter their borders even as they recognize a need to coordinate with others.

Over half of the immigrants who entered Europe in recent years were 29 years old or younger, men and women at the peak of their productive capacities. Spain, Germany and the UK received more than half of all immigrants as recorded in 2006. The three biggest groups of migrants originated from Asia, Non-EU Europe and North America.

As Europe continues ageing it will need more migrants to replace mortalities. Birth rates have long been below the replacement level to maintain current population rates. Median age is projected to rise from 40.4 years in 2008 to 47.9 years in 2060. Those aged 80 and over will triple from 85 million to 151 million in the same period. The ageing demographic is expected to put enormous social pressures and exact social costs. As retirees increase in number and live longer, this would require more resources allocated for healthcare. There is also concern that a shrinking number of young workers will shoulder the brunt of old-age social security. The EU commission estimates a shortfall of 20 million workers as early as 2030.

The EU has put a premium on highly-skilled workers. In an effort to compete with other high-income countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada, the EU instituted the Blue Card permit last year. The Blue Card system makes it easier for highly-skilled workers to enter and work in any of the EU member-states. Aside from EU-wide mobility, the permit also allows for easier family reunification and a period of return to the worker’s country of origin to encourage ‘brain circulation’ and minimize brain drain. As the global economy becomes increasingly knowledge-intensive, this competition for global talent is seen to intensify.

From the late 1980s, the number of asylum-seekers also rose rapidly. In 1983 there were 104,000 applicants. By 1992 this figure rose to 692,000. The UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) estimates 286,700 asylum-seekers in 2009.

A history of migration

Europe is a region of emigration as well as immigration. The first “great wave” of European emigrants left their countries of birth in the 19^th century. Some 60 million went on to colonize and settle the Americas. The two world wars would arrest population mobility. But people again began to move in search of work and a better life after the second World War and in response to Europe’s need for reconstruction. The number of foreign workers in the European labor force doubled from 3% to 6% in the period 1960 to 173. Britain and France recruited citizens of their former colonies. Germany supplemented its workforce with citizens from Turkey.

But the post-war wave of migrant workers would again taper off by the 1970s. The Gulf oil crisis triggered a world-wide recession. The foreign-born workers who could not secure citizenship were repatriated. Countries like France for example had to create incentives to get its North African migrants to leave. But net immigration rates would steadily continue to rise in the coming decades. In the 1990s, the fall of the Soviet Union also triggered a new wave of migration from Central and East European states.

Policing Borders

This year alone the European Union has allocated €400 million in its migration management programs. The integration of third-country nationals was allocated €111 million, surveillance structures and control of borders has €208 million and repatriation of undocumented migrants has €88 million.

The European Agency for Border Control and Protection, more popularly known as "Frontex" was established in 2005 by the European Commission. Frontex enforces a pan-European border security system which aims to curb illegal migrant influx into the EU. Frontex coordinates the operations of member states to carry out the management of external borders. It trains border guards with the security standards and procedures. It conducts risk analysis and research and assists member-

countries in repatriation of undocumented migrants.

The EU’s “buffer-zone” of migration management stretches from West Africa all the way to the Turkish-Iraqi border. From 2008 Frontex has conducted joint operations with West African states Senegal and Mauritania to prevent illegal entry by boat to the Spanish Canary Islands. Operations with Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Libya policed the Mediterranean.

The creation of a more specialized European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) is in the works. Aside from greater powers in policing land and maritime borders, Frontex would also acquire new technologies such as satellites to monitor frontiers.

Dying to get in

Frontex has been criticized for its detention centers and manner in which the agency apprehends suspected undocumented migrants. The border surveillance system is said to violate human rights and has claimed many lives. For example, in 2008 thirteen Africans attempting to reach Italy by boat were thrown overboard alive. A woman trying to get into Europe through Greece fell into the Evros River when their boat was spotted by border guards. She was with the migrant smuggler and five other women trying to make the crossing. The 182-kilometer border between Greece and Turkey is littered with landmines. Most who have perished in breaching the border are Iraqi refugees trying to get to Western Europe. Reports of abuses perpetrated by border patrollers have also been documented.

Many blame the securitization of the migration process and the criminalization of migrants for the violence that ensues in capture and detention. A worker from a support office of immigrants and refugees claims that "Frontex is a war machine. They have ships, airplanes, helicopters. They shoot. They use war tactics against refugees."

The detention system is considered the primary apparatus to govern migrant movement within and even without the EU's borders.

People have died in the attempt to scale Fortress Europe. A European NGO, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrant (PICUM), has recorded 14,797 casualties in the last ten years. There are probably many more who died without documentation.

To further stem the tide of unwanted migrants two pieces of EU-legislation have been enacted recently – the Return Directive and the Employers’ Sanction Directive. The Return Directive would seek to capture and repatriate workers who become undocumented, that is, those who lose the legal right to remain in the EU for whatever reason. These undocumented migrants can include children, pregnant women and whole families. They may be detained for as long as 18 months pending trial if authorities find them to be a flight risk. The Employers' Sanctions Directive seeks to prosecute business-owners who would employ undocumented workers. This would entail a routine inspection of businesses. Many deplore this new round of measures to fortify Fortress Europe. They are seen to violate fundamental values of European history and civilization.

A Post 9/11 World

Who belongs and who does not. Who is desirable and who is not. Who is perishable and who is not. Al Qaeda may have achieved what it set out to do nearly ten years ago. Today the rich have barricaded themselves in their countries in fear of the invading Muslim/Black/Asian/non-Caucasian hordes. The United States has built a wall separating it from Mexico. Australia jealously patrols its waters up north and detains would-be illegals on Christmas Island. Recently countries like Thailand have gotten under hot water for turning away over 200 Burmese refugees. But in terms of the dizzying regulations and mechanisms of surveillance and control, nothing compares to Fortress Europe.

Photo Credits Photo: “Waiting for an Answer, Mellila, Spain” by flo razowsky, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

Photo: “Fight Fortress Europe” by Akbar Simonse, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved