scholarly journals Immigration Policy and State Power

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Yasha Daniel Maccanico

An analysis of 20 years of official documents (1995–2014) and legislative acts at national and EU levels using Jessop’s Strategic Relational Approach (SRA) offers insights into inherent structural flaws in the Justice and Home Affairs aspects of European and member state migration policies. Focusing on two triptychs (hierarchy, governance and government; state power(s), strategic selectivities and structures) and tracking their development clarifies that this policy field’s purposes stray beyond migration management. In fact, the EU migration policy model was set up to be inherently expansive and is intimately linked to EU institutions and national governments striving to enhance their power(s). This is why apparent aberrations and unlawful acts by states amounting to a power grab have developed into an attack against normative frameworks including human rights. This article investigates whether European approaches to immigration policy at the EU and national levels currently pose a problem in terms of state power and authoritarianism due to inherently expansive tendencies and the serial production of problems and hierarchies. It offers a methodological, state-theoretical contribution to address a policy fix in which the EU and its member states appear caught, with harmful effects that spread beyond EU borders through externalisation.

Subject EU immigration policy. Significance The EU has previously legislated to encourage the immigration of workers into the bloc, to counter the negative economic effects of demographic ageing. However, immigration policy is largely determined by individual member states. The results of EU pro-immigration schemes have been weak. National responses to the current influx of refugees and migrants have highlighted underlying member states differences over immigration, driven by economic, demographic and cultural divergences. Consequently, impetus for further EU pro-immigration action had largely stalled even before the current crisis. Impacts Asymmetric economic developments across the continent will continue to impede a common immigration strategy. Any opening of more legal avenues to convert asylum-seekers into economic immigrants will remain a matter for national governments. The current crisis will increase distrust and frictions among member states, while boosting populist forces. The crisis will bring into sharp relief the distinction between extra- and intra-EU immigration as a way of filling labour market gaps.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Tatiana Shaban

Cross-border cooperation among the Eastern neighbours of the European Union can be understood as a new approach to public policy and border governance in the region. There was no border cooperation strategy between communist and European countries during Soviet times. The question of the management of the Eastern border of the EU, especially with Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, came on the agenda in 1997, when accession to the union was finally opened to Eastern and Southern European candidates. With the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that came into force in 1998, Ukraine signalled its foreign policy orientation as European, asserting that Western integration would help modernize its economy, increase living standards, and strengthen democracy and rule of law. The European Commission required “good neighbourly relations” as a further condition for accession and in conjunction, the concept of “Wider Europe” was proposed to set up border-transcending tasks. The Carpathian Euroregion was established to contribute to strengthening the friendship and prosperity of the countries of this region. However, the model was not fully understood and had only limited support of the national governments. This article uses the Carpathian Euroregion as a case study to show that overall Ukraine and the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood presents more opportunities for effective cooperation with the EU rather than barriers or risks.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-411 ◽  
Author(s):  

AbstractAn examination of EU constitutional negotiations allows for the identification of influences behind specific outcomes. A close inspection of particular issues demonstrates the necessity to revise purely realistic and instrumental approaches that focus primarily on formal negotiators, that is, national governments. Other actors, such as interest groups, can enter the negotiation arena by using empowering resources that are alternatives to state power. In some cases, such as the discussion of asylum rights for EU nationals during the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, interest groups joined the negotiation and did not pursue self-interest, but rather sought to design broader constitutional principles of the EU. The formal negotiator, the Spanish government, was faced with pressure from these groups that emanated from a set of international norms and moral beliefs that underpinned their claims. Their success is significant, not only because they diluted the Spanish government's proposal, but because their performance demonstrated important characteristics of a maturing European civil society.


Author(s):  
Lucie Cerna

The chapter argues that while Europe needs high-skilled immigrants to fill labour shortages and respond to ageing populations, it continues to struggle recruiting these immigrants due to incre asing political tensions over immigration, which can also affect the highly skilled. These tensions are visible in the varying national policies and Blue Card versions at the EU level. The chapter analyses demographic, economic, and political challenges in Europe and traces high-skilled immigration policy developments over the last decade, both in terms of national policies and the adoption of the EU Blue Card. To demonstrate the variation in Blue Card versions, the chapter presents a newly developed Blue Card Index (BCI) and compares it with an existing index of national high-skilled immigration policies. The indices highlight considerable variation in national policies and Blue Card versions. This has important policy implications, which are discussed in the concluding section.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-173
Author(s):  
Andrzej Lorkowski ◽  
Robert Jeszke

The whole world is currently struggling with one of the most disastrous pandemics to hit in modern times – Covid-19. Individual national governments, the WHO and worldwide media organisations are appealing for humanity to universally stay at home, to limit contact and to stay safe in the ongoing fight against this unseen threat. Economists are concerned about the devastating effect this will have on the markets and possible outcomes. One of the countries suffering from potential destruction of this situation is Poland. In this article we will explain how difficult internal energy transformation is, considering the long-term crisis associated with the extraction and usage of coal, the European Green Deal and current discussion on increasing the EU 2030 climate ambitions. In the face of an ongoing pandemic, the situation becomes even more challenging with each passing day.


2017 ◽  
pp. 82-107
Author(s):  
Michał Skorzycki

The article comprises the overview of the essential legal, administrative and financial means that the EU has at its disposal in case of rapid influx of immigrants, as well as a selection of major obstacles to the use of these tools, based on observation of the activities of the EU and its member states taken up to deal with the aforementioned situation which took place in 2015. Using the abovementioned observation and an analysis of relevant documents, it is argued that the refugee crisis of 2015 has revealed the necessity of a profound institutionalisation of the European immigration policy as the most effective way to overcome difficulties in response to such situations. The analysis leads also to the conclusion that the EU is caught in a dilemma of either suspending the Dublin system in crisis situations or creating a new system of intensive support for border member states.


This volume highlights the challenges of contemporary policymaking and scholarship on high-skilled migration. Both areas often focus rather narrowly on migration policy without considering systematically and rigorously other economic, social, and political drivers of migration. These structural drivers are often equally or sometimes even more important than migration policies per se. To be successful in recruiting on the global skill market, countries have to implement coherent whole-of-government immigration policy packages which are to be embedded in a country’s broader economic, social, and political structures and the broader context of international migration processes and dynamics. Societies and economies that are able to create a welcoming environment for people, attractive professional conditions for workers, and a business climate for employers are likely to succeed in attracting and recruiting skilled workers that are in demand. The chapter concludes with some proposals aimed at improving the efficiency of the global skill market.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Lise Esther Herman ◽  
Julian Hoerner ◽  
Joseph Lacey

AbstractOver the last decade, the EU’s fundamental values have been under threat at the national level, in particular among several Central and Eastern European states that joined the EU since 2004. During this time, the European People’s Party (EPP) has been criticized for its unwillingness to vote for measures that would sanction the Hungarian Fidesz government, one of its members, in breach of key democratic principles since 2010. In this paper, we seek to understand how cohesive the EPP group has been on fundamental values-related votes, how the position of EPP MEPs on these issues has evolved over time, and what explains intra-EPP disagreement on whether to accommodate fundamental values violators within the EU. To address these questions, we analyse the votes of EPP MEPs across 24 resolutions on the protection of EU fundamental values between 2011 and 2019. Our findings reveal below-average EPP cohesion on these votes, and a sharp increase in the tendency of EPP MEPs to support these resolutions over time. A number of factors explain the disagreements we find. While the EPP’s desire to maintain Fidesz within its ranks is central, this explanation does not offer a comprehensive account of the group’s accommodative behaviour. In particular, we find that ideological factors as well as the strategic interests of national governments at the EU level are central to understanding the positions of EPP MEPs, as well as the evolution of these positions over time. These results further our understanding of the nature of the obstacles to EU sanctions in fundamental values abuse cases, and the role of partisanship in fuelling EU inaction especially.


2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-350
Author(s):  
Divas Karimanzira ◽  
Thomas Rauschenbach

Abstract Population rise, climate change, soil degradation, water scarcity, and food security require efficient and sustainable food production. Aquaponics is a highly efficient way of farming and is becoming increasingly popular. However, large scale aquaponics still lack stability, standardization and proof of economical profitability. The EU-INAPRO project helps to overcome these limitations by introducing digitization, enhanced technology, and developing standardized modular scalable solutions and demonstrating the viability of large aquaponics. INAPRO is based on an innovation a double water recirculation system (DRAPS), one for fish, and the other one for crops. In DRAPS, optimum conditions can be set up individually for fish and crops to increase productivity of both. Moreover, the integration of digital technologies and data management in the aquaculture production and processing systems will enable full traceability and transparency in the processes, increasing consumers’ trust in aquaculture products. In this paper, the innovations and the digitization approach will be introduced and explained and the key benefits of the system will be emphasized.


Author(s):  
Elisabet Navarro-Tapia ◽  
Mariona Serra-Delgado ◽  
Lucía Fernández-López ◽  
Montserrat Meseguer-Gilabert ◽  
María Falcón ◽  
...  

Kohl is a traditional cosmetic widely used in Asia and Africa. In recent years, demand for kohl-based eyelids and lipsticks has increased in Europe, linked to migratory phenomena of populations from these continents. Although the European legislation prohibits the use of heavy metals in cosmetics due to the harmful effects to human health, particularly to pregnant women and children, these elements are still present in certain products. The European Union recommended levels are Pb < 20 ppm, As < 5 ppm, Cd < 5 ppm, Sb < 100 ppm, and Ni < 200 ppm. In Germany, levels are more restrictive: Pb < 2 ppm, As < 0.5 ppm, Cd < 0.1 ppm, Sb < 0.5 ppm, and Ni < 10 ppm. Here, we analyzed 12 kohl-based cosmetics in different presentations (powder, paste, and pencil) that were purchased in Spanish and German local shops. An inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer was used to identify toxic elements and heavy metals. Levels of Pb ranged between 1.7 and 410,000 ppm in six of the study samples, four of which had levels above the recommended limit of at least two heavy metals. Arsenic (a carcinogenic element) values were within the range allowed by the EU in only 58% of the studied samples. Moreover, two products doubled this limit, reaching levels of 9.2 and 12.6 ppm. In one of the products, cadmium, related to toxic keratitis, was four times higher (20.7 ppm) than that allowed, while in two other products, these limits were doubled (11.8 and 12.7 ppm). Our results indicate the need to supervise the manufacture of kohl-based traditional products and the analysis of their composition prior distribution in European countries.


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