Article Title: A million migrants from East Europe now live in
Britain: That's 1.5% of the population of eight EU nations
Published: Daily Mail,
December 5, 2012
Author: James Slack
Summary of Key Points
James Slack’s article profiles the current status of migrants from
Eastern European countries to Britain.
According to the article, since the countries of Estonia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic became part
of the European Union in 2004, migration has escalated. Figures reported to
Members of Parliament (MPs) indicated that one in every 67 citizens from these
eight countries now live in Britain. Tory MPs are raising concerns about these
numbers. Another concern is the impending addition of the countries of Romania
and Bulgaria to the EU in 2013. If the same rates of entry were applied to the
two added countries, immigrants from those countries would climb from the
current 155,000 to 425,000.
In addition to fear over growing numbers, Slack reports that MPs
expressed concern regarding loss of green spaces to meet the housing needs for
new arrivals, the governments failure to estimate increases in Bulgarian and
Romanian immigrants and the upcoming easing of restrictions on the number of
people who can fill low paying jobs.
Government officials acknowledged that estimates made in 2004 regarding
annual arrivals proved to be grossly under-estimated. Fifty per cent of all new
housing needs in Britain were required by immigrant families. An assurance that
plans are in place to curb numbers of migrants to a sustainable level was
provided indicating that an annual reduction of 25% was already in place. Home
Office sources also reported that they were investigating reducing public
services for immigrants arriving in Britain without having already secured a
job.
Moreover, Slack provides a deeper analysis of why EU migrants find
Britain so attractive and offers some of the positive contributions of
migrants. Pull factors such as: housing
benefits, jobseeker’s allowances, medical care, housing benefits and education
for children in state schools. The UK is
known to have both minimum wage and a flexible job market which is appealing to
young workers from Eastern European countries. Employers have also welcomed
immigrant labor from these countries citing a good work ethic. Such workers are
also willing to accept the jobs that many of the UK’s unemployed refused. New
arrivals often are employed in the hospitality and agriculture industries.
Slack also proposes that the government’s attempts to curb services for
Romanians and Bulgarians, would undoubtedly be open to legal challenges as
different treatment that other EU nations would be discrimination.
Analysis
This article offered an interesting
look at a parliamentary debate on Eastern Europeans migrants in Britain. The
elements of the debate focused on perceived negative aspects of new arrivals to
Britain. The supplementary information provided gave a broader perspective to
the issue by outlining the pull factors that make Britain appealing and by
highlighting he types of work that migrants were willing to do. Where the
analysis fell short, was that there was no mention of any “push factors” that
may be contributing to the existing rates of emigration and that might be
applied to Romanians and Bulgarians leaving or fleeing. Slack’s article
highlights an issue that is common across many countries which is that
immigration policies are often a source of controversy. In Britain, as there
are no intervening obstacles because of EU agreements, it is likely to continue
to be an issue of concern.
No comments:
Post a Comment