Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BRUSSELS4012
2004-09-21 11:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

EU GRAPPLES WITH INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: DUTCH

Tags:  SMIG PREF PHUM EUN USEU BRUSSELS 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRUSSELS 004012 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/PRP - SBUSBY; EUR/ERA - KSHEARER;
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR CIS/ASYLUM DIVISION - JLANGLOIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG PREF PHUM EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU GRAPPLES WITH INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: DUTCH
PRESIDENCY TO PRESENT ROADMAP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRUSSELS 004012

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/PRP - SBUSBY; EUR/ERA - KSHEARER;
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR CIS/ASYLUM DIVISION - JLANGLOIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG PREF PHUM EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU GRAPPLES WITH INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: DUTCH
PRESIDENCY TO PRESENT ROADMAP


1. (U) Summary. Approximately 250 experts in migration
policy from throughout Europe and North America gathered at a
conference hosted by the Dutch Presidency in Amsterdam,
September 1-3, to discuss the current state of migration
affairs in the EU and to recommend policy options in managing
migration flows. The Dutch Presidency will present a
multi-year migration strategy paper at an upcoming EU Council
meeting of Justice and Interior Ministers on November 5.
While many speakers at the conference underscored the
positive economic and demographic consequences of
immigration, others focused on the political sensitivities
which surround the social debate. The inability of European
countries to effectively patrol the EU's external borders
fuels a popular backlash against migrants. Asylum seekers
are viewed with particular disdain as many are thought to be
economic migrants making spurious (and costly) requests for
international protection. End Summary.


2. (U) Around four to six million foreigners (slightly over
one percent of the population) are estimated to be in the EU
illegally. Although the percentage and numbers of illegals
are lower when compared to the U.S. (around 3 percent or 12
million illegal aliens),concern about immigration remains
much stronger in Europe. Even if illegals and other migrants
work in jobs most citizens will not fill, including the
critically needed domestic, health and care services,
Europeans tend to display a lack of hospitality towards them.

--------------
Presidency Strikes Right Chord
--------------


3. (U) In her keynote address, Dutch Minister for Immigration
and Integration Rita Verdonk sketched out an ideal view of a
Europe that was open to the world, yet secure. She professed
to be unhappy with "Fortress Europe" and said that there was
no need for "a new iron curtain between rich and poor." She
also emphasized the need for Europe to maintain a
humanitarian system, recommending that the best way to keep
the hearts and minds of citizens open to the needs of the
persecuted was to ensure swift and efficient asylum
procedures. Verdonk also said the EU should do more to

encourage protection mechanisms in regions of origin, citing
the attack on a refugee camp in Burundi as an example of why
Europe needed to do more abroad.


4. (U) Even in her rallying call to tackle illegal
immigration, Verdonk injected a humanitarian note by
referring to the hundreds of migrants intercepted in the
Mediterranean on small boats and the many watery graves. She
said the growth of illegal immigration enriched organized
crime groups which used profits to carry out other illegal
enterprises that can "threaten the fabric of our society."
According to Verdonk, illegal migrants living on the margins
of society overwhelm -- or fall outside -- European social
systems. To secure the EU's borders, Verdonk said that
travel and residency documents must be made more secure by
incorporating biometric identifiers. She also called for
improved cooperation with neighbors and expressed hope that
the new EU Border Agency would contribute to more secure
external frontiers.


5. (U) Verdonk underscored the positive aspects of legal
immigration, including cultural ones. She said the
immigrants could contribute to stimulating the European
economy and thus help the EU fulfill the Lisbon strategy.
She also noted that immigration was part of the solution to
reversing Europe's demographic decline. Verdonk concluded
her remarks by noting, "Immigration is something we can no
longer live without, even if we want to live without it."


6. (U) Despite the well-balanced speech, Verdonk was unable
to respond convincingly to the questions from the audience
which followed. When a British Home Office participant asked
how the EU could foster a greater acceptance of immigrants
and asylum seekers among its citizens, Verdonk urged greater
interagency and international cooperation to address
problems. When an Irish Justice Department official asked
what political strategy the Dutch Presidency had developed to
encourage closer standardization of asylum policies at the
European level, Verdonk noted that enlargement had made that
task more difficult than it was before. Nonetheless, she
concluded that the Member States had already agreed at the
political level to move towards a European system, and thus a
way had to be found.

--------------
EU: Already Home to (Productive) Immigrants
--------------


7. (U) Policy briefs prepared for the conference illustrated
via statistics that foreigners are currently present and
productive throughout Europe. States with the highest
percentage of foreign-born residents (Luxembourg - near 40%,
Austria - 25%, Switzerland - 23% and Germany - 13%) are among
the wealthiest countries. The percentages of foreign born
(including naturalized and other citizens) in these countries
surpass those of the U.S. (11%). Other wealthy European
countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and France
come close to the U.S. composition with 8-9% foreign-born.
Europe's total migrant population is estimated to be 36 - 39
million people, the majority of which originate from outside
Europe. The largest blocks of foreigners living in the EU
are Turks (2.6 million) and Moroccans (1.4 million).


8. (U) Like the U.S., Europe's net population gain in 2003
(1.3 million people) is attributed principally to
immigration. In absolute numbers, Germany, the UK and Italy
received the largest numbers of immigrants. However,
relative to population size, growth was seen most in Cyprus
( 14 per 1000 inhabitants),Ireland ( 7),and Portugal ( 6).
Only in the Baltics and Poland did EU Member States see more
emigration than immigration.


9. (U) Unlike the U.S., most of those coming to Europe
legally do not do so for family reasons. Family formation
(marriage) and reunification accounts for about 30% of
Europe's legal immigrants. Numbers in this category are
particularly high in Sweden, Belgium and Denmark. A related
group includes those coming because of ethnic ties (such as
returnees from the former Soviet Union to Germany).
Surprisingly, the group singled out by the media for the most
criticism -- refugees and asylees -- comprises the smallest
number of Europe's legal residents, under 10% of all
immigrants.


10. (U) The majority of those immigrating legally to Europe
come for economic reasons. When including illegal aliens,
labor migrants account for over half the foreign population.
Economic streams of immigration are particularly strong in
Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Greece. According to a
European Commission (EC) report dated 7-16-2004, migration
helps the EU sustain economic growth. Migrants from outside
Europe contributed 22% to employment growth for the period
from 1997-2002 even though they only comprise 3.6% of the
total EU work force. The report concludes that "given the
extremely high levels of employment already reached by
skilled EU nationals, third countries' labor is increasingly
appearing as a major potential which can be tapped to respond
to the growing demand for skilled labor while continuing to
respond to the demand for low skilled labor."


11. (U) When looking at the EU 15, immigrants (particularly
from developing countries) are over-represented in the
low-skilled end of the labor market and the high-skill end of
the market (mainly immigrants from other developed
countries). The following statistics show the ratio between
immigrants and native born citizens across the EU 15 average:
-- Immigrants: low skills (52%),medium skills (28%),high
skills (20%)
-- Natives: low skills (46%),medium skills (38%),high
skills (16%)


12. (U) Several speakers at the Amsterdam conference
predicted that Europe would increasingly have to compete to
attract needed laborers to fill market gaps. Professor
Rainer Munz of the Hamburg Institute of International
Economics suggested the EU might also consider ways to
attract back the 450,000 European scientists and researchers
currently working in the U.S. -- or copying the U.S.
technique of smoothing transition of foreign students from
universities into the labor market. Other suggestions and
challenges for policymakers outlined by Munz in his policy
brief included:

-- facilitating access to permanent residency and citizenship
in order to attract needed high skilled immigrants;
--adopting a "point system" in selecting immigrants as done
by Canada, or experimenting with "earned regularizations"
(which gives residency permanents to illegals who are
employed);
-- reduce the reliance of the low skills job market on
self-selecting illegals;
-- help the ten new EU Member States prepare for their
transformation into countries of destination for
international migrants; and,
-- target measures so that certain immigrant groups which
perform below the norm in terms of employment and
assimilation (Turks and North Africans) acquire needed skills
and abilities to become productive.

--------------
Politics Intrude
--------------


13. (U) Despite the strong case for immigration, the majority
of Europeans would prefer not to open their countries to
foreigners. Some say there already too many unemployed
(although studies show these will not take jobs filled by
low-skilled migrants). Others find the religious values,
particularly of Muslim migrants, troubling or repulsive
(despite European claims to toleration and
multi-culturalism). Finally, the perceived lack of effective
tools to control borders leads to resentment of those who
enter without authorization and as lawbreakers. For these
reasons, anti-immigrant parties have flourished and done well
and virtually every national election in the past few years
throughout the EU.


14. (U) Rocco Buttiglione, incoming EU Commissioner for
Justice, Freedom and Security ignited a fierce debate in
early September after suggesting that camps for migrants
attempting to enter the EU illegally be set up in Libya and
Tunisia. His comments came as German and Italian interior
ministers were discussing a similar initiative. The plan
revives a proposal made last year by the UK and ultimately
rejected by the EU because of legal, practical and
humanitarian concerns. Sweden and UNHCR criticized the lack
of adequate protection mechanisms ) a problem intensified by
Buttiglione,s identification of Libya as a possible venue.
(Note. In his native Italy, the government is also working
bilaterally with Libya to stop the flow of migrants from
North Africa, the new gateway to Italy for illegals. End
Note.) Member of the European Parliament Baroness Sarah
Ludford (UK Liberal) assailed the plan as &wacky8 and
during a BBC interview noted that it had already been
rejected by the Commission for good reasons. She said the
Buttiglione can expect a rigorous grilling during his
confirmation hearing before the Parliament later this month.
Nevertheless, Germany and Italy continue to support the idea
(even though the Green party in Germany has broken with
Interior Minister Schilly on this point).


15. (U) Buttiglione,s view probably reflects that of the
average European. At the Amsterdam conference, other
measures were discussed to strengthen the EU,s border
controls and to effectively curb abuse in the asylum system.
In a workshop on EU borders, participants discussed several
proposals for enhancing an integrated approach to the
European frontier, including creation of a pool of
multinational external border inspectors, establishment of an
EU multinational coast guards corps and development of common
consular offices and even a single EU visa. The workshop
also explored ways of building effective partnerships with
migrant-sending and transit countries.

--------------
Ensuring Protection: Here and There
--------------


16. (U) A separate workshop on asylum and refugee protection
focused on the development of a single procedure
incorporating refugee and other &subsidiary8 protection
mechanisms. While many noted the challenges of consolidating
all protection procedures into one, there was general
consensus that a single "protection8 procedure is far
preferable to disparate ones. Neverthelss, finding consensus
on asylum in Europe has been one of the EC's biggest
challenges (with Germany often spoiling the consensus).


17. (U) The second half of the workshop focused on a recent
EC communication on improving access to durable solutions for
refugees, which proposes establishment of an EU-wide refugee
resettlement program and an increase in EU resources devoted
to enhancing protection for refugees in their regions of
origin. While governments spoke generally in favor of these
ideas, many voiced skepticism about the ability of migration
ministries to affect overseas assistance and development
programs. Others (e.g., France) were more blunt, stating
that EU citizens and their governments were unlikely to
significantly increase their support for overseas refugee
programs unless they see clear benefits to themselves (i.e.,
a reduction in the number of spontaneous arrivals by asylum
seekers on their territories).

--------------
Provocative Conclusions
--------------


18. (U) The conference concluded with several provocative
presentations on the way-ahead for Europe on migration
policy. Antonis Kastrissianakis, Director of Employment
Strategy and European Social Fund policy Development and
Coordination, DG Employment and Social Affairs, European
Commission, reminded the audience of the demographic
challenges facing the EU for the next several decades and
stressed that increased immigration, while not a cure-all to
this problem, could help. He encouraged member-states to
look at more effective ways of attracting skilled labor
(including from the U.S.) and integrating existing migrants.
Jan Karlsson, co-chair of the Global Commission on
International Migration, summarized the work of the
Commission and said his chief lesson learned to date was the
importance of taking into account the perspective of the
migrant in seeking to develop effective migration policies.
Migrants, he noted, do not always respond to the same
incentives and disincentives that policymakers in the
developed world think they do. A representative from the
Dutch Ministry of Justice closed the proceedings by noting
that the Netherlands would seek to incorporate the various
recommendations made at the conference into the formal
conclusions to be developed at the Justice and Home Affairs
Council session in November.

--------------
Comment
--------------


19. (U) The Dutch Presidency, despite its excellent effort to
ensure that a balanced view of migration was presented at the
conference, should stress measures to beef up the union's
external frontiers when it presents its multi-year strategy
in November. Likewise, its recommendations on international
protection should underscore activities the EU can undertake
in refugee producing regions. Acknowledged, but not
effectively addressed at the conference, were measures the EU
must take to promote the integration of migrants into
European societies. That the most visible immigrants come
from countries whose values and ways of life frequently
collide with host societies, compounds the problem. Whether
it be disputes over the use of headscarves by Dutch
waitresses or French schoolgirls, the rise in anti-Semitic
violence linked to immigrants or the growth of Islamophobia,
Europeans have not yet found a way to smooth away the rough
edges associated with international migration.


20. (U) Migration management and the embracing of immigrants
to contribute to the social and economic fabric is one area
where Europe looks to the U.S. for a possible model.
Although Europeans have traditionally resisted the notion
that they are an "area of immigration," the reality is
otherwise; EC officials are now begin to perceive the need to
highlight the benefits of controled immigration in order to
foster greater toleration of migrants by European citizens.

SCHNABEL