What is the right immigration policy for Europe?

George-Henri Beauthier, a lawyer, reacts to the latest revision in Belgian's asylum law, on April 21, and to the goverment's refusal to propose a regularisation of those without residency rights. "Is it preposterous, in a democratic state, to demand a thorough debate on the entry, residency and deportation of foreigners, one aimed at crafting a clear immigration policy, with prescribed rules that must be respected? This debate is spurned. It is not through stopgap legislative measures, nor strong-arm ministerial declarations that we will solve a vital question for society: how, with whom, and on the basis of which values should we coexist? Every year, this political fecklessness swells the ranks of illegal immigrants. ... We are in thrall to a system of absolute arbitrariness, the gangrene of democracy. ... We need simple rules as a matter of urgency."

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