YEARENDER: Europe toughens attitudes on immigrants

By Peter Mayer Dec 27, 2010, 12:15 GMT

Rome - When hundreds of African immigrants rioted in southern Italy in January after the shooting and wounding of two members of their community by alleged Italian assailants, the tough response of the country's interior minister came as no surprise to most.

Years of lax attitudes towards the unauthorized entry of foreigners were at the root of the problem, said Roberto Maroni, a leading member of the anti-immigration Northern League party.

Three days of brawls, looting and arson attacks in Rosarno, near the tip of Italy's boot, eventually prompted the government to evacuate around 1,000 immigrants to neighbouring towns to protect them from enraged local residents.

Amid the violence, Pope Benedict XVI appealed for tolerance and rights activists denounced what they said are the exploitative conditions faced by many foreigners employed as seasonal labourers on farms around Rosarno.

Activists also claimed that at least half of the immigrants evacuated were properly registered.

Faced with an ageing population, Italy needs to encourage immigration to ensure that its economy remains competitive, experts say.

Yet, permits allowing foreign workers to reside in the country remain stuck in red tape, partly due to a restrictive 2002 immigration law strongly promoted by the Northern League.

But Maroni's linking of the presence of foreigners with rising crime, and the need for robust curbs on illegal immigration, reflects the kind of attitudes that have become prevalent in many parts of Europe.

And as many of the continent's economies continued to struggle and jobless rates rose throughout 2010, several nations have moved to tighten their borders.

For years now, Italy, Greece and Malta - the countries most exposed to the influx of would-be migrants from Africa and Asia - have called for greater 'burden-sharing' among European Union member states.

But in 2009, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi opted for a change of tack, deciding his country should go it alone by enacting a controversial pact with Moamer Gaddafi's Libya to immediately deport Italy-bound would-be immigrants intercepted at sea.

Maroni hailed the so-called 'pushback' policy a 'success,' pointing out that between August 2009 and July 2010 immigrant arrivals by sea had been reduced by 88 per cent, compared to the previous year's period, dropping from 29,076 to 3,499.

Italy, however, drew condemnation from the United Nations, the Vatican and human rights groups, who say the swift deportations contravene the rights of asylum seekers, since no attempt is made to verify whether intercepted migrants are eligible for refugee status.

Italy's 'pushback,' policy has also exacerbated the situation in Greece - which accounts for nearly 91 per cent of the European Union's detected illegal border crossings - with more people now using that country's border with Turkey as their entry point into Europe.

The Greek government, grappling with its own economic crisis, and a reported backlog of more than 52,000 asylum claims, said it was in no position to handle the migrant influx.

In October, responding to an urgent request from Athens, the EU's Frontex agency for the first time since its 2007 creation deployed the EU's Rapid Border Intervention Teams, or Frontex guard, along Greece's land border Turkey.

By the following month, the number of people illegally streaming into Greece had diminished by 43 per cent.

But even some the European nations that have traditionally been more welcoming to migrants have started to show signs of a change of heart.

In August, France controversially deported dozens of ethnic Roma, placing French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a collision course with fellow EU member Romania.

Even Sweden, long considered a relative haven for asylum seekers, is now pushing for stricter regulations governing the status of refugees under a new centre-right government.

The government has also proposed cuts to welfare and unemployment benefits, which it says act as disincentives for refugees to find gainful employment and thus integrate more successfully into Swedish society.

Stricter rules on refugee applications have triggered protests from Amnesty International, church groups and other activists.

Meanwhile the UN's Refugee Agency has criticized the Swedish Migration Board's policy of returning to their homeland those Iraqis whose application for asylum has been rejected.

Still, the outcome of the September general election suggests that, for many Swedes, the tougher measures do not gone far enough.

In the vote, the ruling centre-right coalition lost its overall majority, partly over gains by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, which for the first time crossed the 4-per-cent threshold needed to enter parliament.