How can the EU better handle irregular migration?
Illegal immigration has been out of the EU´s toughest problems to handle recently, especially during the migration crisis of 2015, where more than 1 million migrants and asylum seekers from countries like Syria, Iraq or Pakistan arrived in the EU caused by events like the Syrian civil war.
Irregular migration is caused by various aspects, but one of the main ones is for economic reasons, for instance, according to the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, three out of four international migrants were aged between 20 and 64 years. Therefore, the opportunities for life improvement that the EU offers acts as a pull factor for migrants looking for better economic opportunities. What is more, the EU is also a very attractive destination because of its freedom of movement within its territory, which offers irregular migrants who have been able to enter the EU, the chance to travel within its countries more easily. Furthermore, the high taxes and rigid labor markets that some countries have, enables shadow economies to appear where unauthorized workers can find opportunities.
Irregular migration is such a hot topic in European politics for various reasons, for instance it created important tensions between the Member States because of the excessive impact that it has on the Members located in the Southern and Eastern borders of the EU, where these migrants come and for the lack of a mechanism to shoulder this burden among the different members, who have been seen at times as lacking solidarity in helping their fellow member states with this situation. This problem also caused a rise of Euroscepticism in the EU population and acted as a catalyst for the proliferation of far-right nationalistic parties in different EU members, like Germany, which have used anti-migration rhetoric to increase polarization.
The EU has tried to handle irregular migration in different ways. After the big migration crisis of 2015, the EU managed to forge an agreement in 2016 with Turkey, which had been the country from where an important number of migrants had tried to get into EU territory, mainly because the EU and especially Greece were overwhelmed with the number of migrants coming in. Thus, the main objective of this deal was to act as a deterrent for migrants from trying to get into the EU, thus reducing the burden that countries like Greece were facing. In this deal, Turkey accepted the return to Turkish territory of migrants attempting to enter Greece, as well as Turkey promised to limit the number of new routes from opening. On the other hand, the EU accepted conditions, like paying 6 billion euros in aid to Turkey for Syrian migrant communities or re-energizing stalled talks regarding Turkey’s accession to the European Union. This deal has been seen by many, like for instance Chancellor Angela Merkel as a success, and even leaders of both the EU and Turkey have acknowledged discussions for renewing it. Nevertheless, this deal has also been heavily criticized especially among human rights advocates and humanitarian organizations. However, this has not been the only measure that the EU has taken in this respect, for instance in recent years FRONTEX has experienced an important increase in personnel. What is more, the European Commission disclosed in September of 2020 its Pact on Migration and Asylum, whose main objective is to improve migration and asylum procedures and promote solidarity between members. Nevertheless, this plan has been heavily criticized by many due to its “flexible solidarity” where some countries if they refuse to take on asylum seekers, they may have the possibility of helping in other ways.
Many proposals have been put up to argue better ways in which the EU could handle its migration problem, for instance, one very popular proposal among far-right groups is making it more difficult for irregular migrants to enter into the EU. However, this option presents important errors, mainly, in spite of the fact that it may deter some migrants from trying to come, tougher border enforcement has shown to allow the proliferation of the use of smugglers, which can lead to an increase in violence. Even of more importance would be the fact that the EU and its member states would be treating this people in inhuman conditions.
Another solution, which has gained traction in recent years would be tackling the root causes of irregular migration, in other words, by improving the situation in the home countries so that migrants do not feel the need of moving away. The EU has already been trying this, for instance the European Commission created the European Trust Fund for Africa, which has the objective of bringing stability to the region. Nevertheless, in order for a solution like this one to work, the EU must also look into how its policies may have a negative effect, for example, the EU´s Common Agricultural Policy has severely negative effects in Africa, due to the fact that African products can compete with European ones thus creating a weak labor market and a destabilized society. This option looks like the best one, although it may be argued that this is a medium to long-term solution.
Nevertheless, the best short-term solution at the moment looks to be like increasing EU cooperation and solidarity. However, this also has some critical problems, due to the fact that there are several Member States, which are not willing to shoulder this burden, because of how polarizing this topic is in their societies. Still, the European Commission, should do their best effort to encourage cooperation among all its members, mainly because working as one would ensure a more effective response and also because even though the Member States located in the South and East frontiers experience the harshest situations, this is an EU-wide problem.
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