Check-Point At The Door
June 1st, 2007
Is the anti-immigration lobby growing among British policy makers?
A Home Office spokesperson recently said: "The government is committed to pursuing a balanced migration policy and recently announced the timetable for implementing its new tough Australian style points based system for managed migration."
According to Dr Eiko Thielemann, senior lecturer in European Politics and Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE), the shift observed in British immigration policy toward European migrants is connected to a growing ambition to assume better control of economic migrations in the long term.
"The policy applied on Romanian migrants is based on transitional arrangements and temporary measures," Thielemann said. "But consideration of shortages in the UK labour market and competition for high-skilled workers all over the world drive a deep and dramatic policy shift from work permission to the points system, likely to last far more than seven years."
Behind economic concerns, the public opinion appears to be ready to ask for less "liberal" policies regarding the movement of people, especially low-skilled workers.
"The UK society is basically stressed by what has been called an 'uncontrolled immigration' in the past," Thielemann added, emphasising that "despite economic needs the general public is less concerned about high-skilled workers rather than they are about low-skilled workers. It explains why that shift towards immigration is likely to be popular."
The concept of a 'selected immigration' is growing among European countries, illustrated by the green card system established by ex-German Chancellor Gerard Schroeder, or the scheme of 'immigration choisie', developed by the newly-elected President of France Nicolas Sarkozy.
The arrival of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU highlights a decisive shift in immigration policies. These two eastern-European countries will suffer restrictions of their European rights for a maximum of seven years but non-EU migrants are likely to experience harsher selection at the door of Britain for a while yet.
Picture taken by The Consumerist, Flikr.com
