Europe tired of immigrants
Residents of Germany, Turkey, USA, Russia and South Africa appear to have a very negative mindset toward immigrants. But most stringent anti-immigration sentiment is manifested specifically in the EU. For example, almost 65% of Spaniards, Italians and Britons said in the poll that their country has too many immigrants. The majority of respondents in the EU believe that, due to the influx of immigrants, it has become much more difficult for native people to find a job and that the constant influx of immigrants has a negative impact on their systems of health protection, social welfare and education. The vast majority of autochthons in the EU countries do not believe immigration to be useful.Anti-immigration sentiments also affect the making of important decisions at the national level. Thus, on 11 August 2011, the European Commission was forced to allow Spain to ban migrant workers from Romania from entering the country until the end of 2012 (the unemployment rate in Spain is the highest in the EU – 21%). Anti-immigration sentiment is increasing in Denmark and the Netherlands. This summer, Denmark resumed border control on the borders with Germany and Sweden.
A team of researchers under the guidance of Doctor of Psychology, Professor Diederik Stapel, of Tilburg University (in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands) found that the litter in the streets, the walls of buildings covered with graffiti and other signs of carelessness are subconsciously attributed to immigrants. To do this, they conducted a survey of volunteers who were every day waiting for a train at the same station. The respondents were asked to answer several questions that reveal their attitudes toward members of other races and religions. And it turned out that after the station had not been cleaned for a week, all the white passengers expressed a sharply negative attitude towards their black neighbors on the train. Although it is clear that there is no less litter from the native population than from immigrants.
And knowing all these sentiments quite well, the European Commission threatened ten EU countries – Austria, Britain, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden – with a legal process for delaying the introduction of amendments into national legislation that would guarantee all people legally residing in the territories of these countries the right to free movement. "The right to freedom of movement is one of the most important fundamental rights of EU citizens", said the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding.
The initiation of the procedures of examination of such violations is the first step undertaken by the European Commission in the process of bringing the legislation of individual EU countries into line with the EU legislation. If the procedure does not lead to a positive outcome, the case will be passed to the European Union court (the EU high court), which may impose a large fine on the offending country. However, the fine payment does not exempt the "culprit" country of execution of the duties assigned to it by the very fact of membership in the union, even if it is at odds with the majority of the population.
Sergei Debrer, Russian Germany
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