Solutions to Mass Immigration to the European Union in 2015? (Originally Posted in Blogger on the 7th September 2015)

The mass immigration into Europe in the late Summer of 2015 was a humanitarian disaster which highlighted how poor some of the European Union's policies & rules are.

Sadly politicians appear to have been caught out by this.  Clearly the Asylum and Economic Migrant rules are lacking in this situation and the way Schengen EU countries have variably ignored or sporadically followed the rules, makes the EU look farcical.

So what’s the solution?

Mass emigrations caused by conflict (i.e. sustained significant fighting) urgently need a workable humanitarian solution.

Smaller scale emigration, caused by government mismanagement, can probably be addressed via the existing asylum / economic migrant procedures.

A solution to conflict driven mass immigration could be:

• An EU funded Migrant Budget needs to be established with mandatory member contributions proportional to Gross Domestic Product, for example 0.5% of national GDP.
• EU countries can apply for Migrant Budget in order to construct & operate Migrant Reception Centres (MRC). Sufficient MRCs are required, across the EU, to cope with thousands of migrants in short periods.
• All migrants entering the EU are directed to the closest MRC with capacity. The costs of doing this come from the Migrant Budget.
• The MRC provides basic secure accommodation, food & medical assistance whilst evaluating each migrant’s status against the relevant Asylum and Economic Migrant categories.
• Migrants with valid national documents; once confirmed as such, can then apply to an EU country for a Temporary Residence Visa (MTRV) valid, for example, for 3 years, in order for there to be time for the conflict to be resolved.
• Migrants without national documents cannot enter this system. This is designed to discourage the arrival of migrants without valid national documents.
• Migrants who cannot prove their country of residency remain in the designated MRC, where they are helped to secure proof of their nationality. The incentive of achieving an MTRV and exiting the MRC for a host country should keep the number of “state-less” migrants to a minimum.
• For migrants on an MTRV; if their home country conflict has not resolved after 3 years an annual extension of the visa is available.
• Migrants on an MTRV are allowed & encouraged to work using the same domestic legislation for out of work nationals.
• Migrants on an MTRV qualify for the same benefits as Nationals.
• If the Migrant wishes to return to their home country, financial help can be provided in the form of air tickets. The cost of this is charged to the Migrant Budget.
• Once the Migrant’s home country’s conflict has ended (as determined by the EU host countries national government) and the MTRV period is coming to an end; the Migrant’s air-fares can be paid by for by the Migrant Budget, in order to facilitate repatriation.
• Migrants on an MTRV cannot apply for permanent residence or nationalisation via the standard process.
• But, if, once their home country’s conflict has ended, Migrants on an MTRV can demonstrate they can support their entire family via employment through becoming fluent in the host country’s language, plus a minimum of 12 consecutive months of sufficient salary (i.e. not requiring any benefits); then the Migrant and their immediate family can apply for residency leading ultimately to nationalisation. If not, then repatriation is mandatory once the MTRV period expires.

Obviously none of this is going to happen in a time-frame for the situation in 2015; however, the EU urgently needs to get a grip on immigration policy.  I suspect none of the EU countries’ Governments, when asked in private, would actively choose to take in large numbers of economic migrants whether from conflict areas or not. 

With the heightened focus on immigration into the UK, adding valid asylum seekers plus large numbers of economic migrants, is a political nightmare.  This is exacerbated by the UK’s Government's 2015-17 programme for an EU Membership referendum together with the clear failure of the EU Rules on dealing with mass inward migration.  The anti-EU parties will likely have a field day over the failure of current EU rules and floundering politicians.

I’m not holding my breath on this. The current EU Human Rights, Asylum & Economic Migrant regulations will, almost certainly need revising.  National politics is a very slow process and EU progress is grindingly slow; however, the huge volume of suffering might just galvanise European Union politicians to put in-place a workable system…quickly.

In the meantime expect lashings of moral guilt and an emotional fudge; without reform, it'll lead to a long-term mess.