France, who assumed the six-month European Presidency on July 1st, is pushing its own strict immigration agenda onto Europe.
Amnesty International, alarmed at some of France's proposals, is calling on the European Parliament to respect its human rights mandate. Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy's historically low home approval ratings and less than stunning attempts at national reform is hoping the EU presidency will resurrect his image as an effective statesman.
Sarkozy is banking on the Pact on Immigration and Asylum at the upcoming EU summit in October. On the agenda is the refusal of "en masse' regularizations, asylum policies, strengthening EU borders, and the rules for the return of illegal immigrants.
Europe's growing conservatism will be a facilitating factor for its approval. For a man who transformed immigration into a question of internal security, Sarkozy's proposals are enjoying broad EU consensus.
He promised to "rid" France of 25,000 illegal immigrants in 2007. "It's a campaign commitment. The French are expecting this of me," he said in an interview in Le Point magazine according to Spiegel Online. The problem for Sarkozy is that while internal security and immigration netted him an election, today's Frenchman is more concerned about the rising costs of food, fuel, dwindling purchasing power, and controversial income and employment reforms.
Last year, France passed a degenerate bill requiring non-EU nationals wishing to join their expatriated families to undergo invasive genetic profiling; a medical procedure initially costing the obsequious migrant several hundred euros. Biology, not human rights principals, is key to legal French residency. Protests eventually watered down the bill.
Familial reunification also requires family members to have a working knowledge of French, endorse French values, and have a substantial cash reserve. France has since attempted to introduce a similar policy on the EU level entitled "obligatory integration contract."
The contract would bind immigrants into accepting European values and adopt local national identities. What the contract entails and its potential fallout is a minor lesson in the intractability of France's fear of the "Other.'
Several EU countries saw it for what it was , discrimination. Spain led the fight and the proposal was eventually dropped but not before French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux attempted to sell the idea in a whirlwind tour of the continent's 27 capitals, minus Paris.
Europe wants to attract the right kind of immigrant. Setting out pro-active homogeneous immigration policies is a sensible idea.
According to a report presented at the European Parliament, 85% of unskilled labor migrations go to the Europe and 5% to the US. But what does one do with eight million unskilled illegal immigrant workers already on the continent?
At the heart of France's EU immigration pact is a draft directive for the return of immigrants. Under the "Return Directive", illegal immigrants can be detained for 18 months. Once deported, they are barred from re-entering Europe up to five years.
Immigrants awaiting deportation set fire to the Mesnil-Amelot detention center near Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport earlier this month. In June, a similar incident mostly destroyed France's largest deportation center at Vincennes in the outskirts of Paris. French aid organizations supporting immigrant rights have since been banned from demonstrating (in French) near the Mesnil-Amelot detention center.
The president is desperate to shake-off the post-election blues. Sarkozy wants quick results while ignoring long-term consequences. The French do not recognize their president. Adopting restrictive immigration policies against the most vulnerable members of society is counter-productive.
Low-skilled labor is vital to France and the EU. The human tragedies currently unfolding in France's detention centers are a harbinger of what irregular migrant workers will face throughout the whole of Europe.
FPA Migration blogger Cathryn Cluver provides an excellent analysis on French immigration and the lead up to presidential elections here.
