Immigration laws within the Eurpean Union.

[Digital]

Ladies & Gentlemen,
We are moving towards a more globalized Europe, as you all understand. The same currency, equal rights of new and old member-states, equal passports, and soon enough, equal work rights wherever.

The last of them is being established thanks to the Bolonga proscess, that most countries have agreed with.

It states that all countries should recognize any diploma of other member state, giving the right for the said internal immigrant instant access to his old job, hypthetically.

Some countries have not signed it, but given some time, most of them will come around to it.

However, many people seem reluctant for the free movement of immigration within the European Union. Others embrace it.

The question is folks :


Should immigration within the European union be conrtrolled, and should it take longer time and more prosseces for diplomas/degrees from other member states to be recognized* ?

(*In fact, do you support the Bolongna proscess or not?)

I personally wish to not take a side on this debate, as I am the topic starter and I simply don't want to either : ]

Free discussion, no flames please.

Thank you.

[Lukie]

*keeps his head out of this one*

Local politics isn't my thing, let alone foreign politics. O_O And the fact my geographical location doesn't exactly permit any sort of experience with being able to freely travel to another country.

I suppose in the ideal of equal opportunity for all people would be a huge benefit, and for a place that has many different governments in the one, relatively small area, this thingymahjig would be a good thing. Again though, my knowledge on this one is running very thin.

[redtails]

Anyone within the European trading union is allowed to travel from country to country to do whatever job.

Now comes the annoying thing though. It is also a backdoor for people from Poland or wherever to work illegally in other countries. We should not control immigration as we are all equal people, but working in another country means you're paid the same, not less nor more. If this is the case, we don't have to be afraid people from other countries will take our jobs because no one would pay the same wage to someone who doesn't speak the language properly and doesn't know how to get around.

So, I say, no laws on immigration, anyone's free to go wherever, but working for illegally low wages is not allowed for foreigners either.

No flaming "THEY'RE TAKING OUR JOBS" please, because that's not the case at all. If someone who wants to be paid less takes your job, just call the police.

[Jaiden]

Well, the freedom to move and work has worked very well so far. Everyone benefits: Western Europe gets a necessary influx of workers – as an example, just a couple of years ago there were serious shortages of skilled labourers such as plumbers and builders in Britain but Eastern Europeans, particularly the Polish, have come in to plug that gap and the gaps in other, low-skilled, industries that the British often don’t want to do. Eastern Europe gets a new income stream from the money earned in the west being brought home and is drawn further into Europe which is necessary if we want a strong and workable union. It economic terms it makes perfect sense. I’m all in for of widening and strengthening employment parity in Europe then, culturally, politically and economically, it’s a sound move for all concerned.

What this all ties into though is the wider problem of the future of the European Union and this is what needs to be resolved; the problem being that Europe has always been its own worst enemy. The organisation of the Union is bureaucratic, not accountable enough, bloated and inefficient in many ways and so, understandably, many are wary of it. Fear of the homogenisation of Europe is, thereby, fairly prevalent and tied into concerns over a loss of identity and autonomy and this needs to be dealt with.

Now personally, I’m in favour of a strong and united Europe – if anyone from the continent wishes to be relevant in the future if will have simply have to happen; the days when Britain, France or Germany can sit at the table on a equal footing with the US, China and India are drawing to a close so the EU is really a necessity if we want a voice, as the coherent and clear interest of an area as rich and strong as Europe as a whole will always be relevant. But reform is absolutely vital and it’s difficult to see how it will come about in a region that is still very divided in many ways. Attempts to get the Constitution, and now the Lisbon Treaty, through clearly indicate that the people of Europe are not happy with the Union in its current form or direction but I don’t believe that they are opposed to the idea of Europe – it simply needs to be done better.

Essentially, my position is that what Europe is trying to achieve is good but the way it is trying to achieve it is not. It needs to be more democratic and based on consensus rather than coming out of a minority in Brussels that is relatively unaccountable and the EU leaders need to realise that the only way they can get want they want is to change how they work and are run.

Sorry, I went a bit off track there didn't I? Tends to happen with me. The Bolonga process is a logical move and it seems to have been pretty well accepted by the significant parts of Europe.