Katarína Mallok on migrants in times of crisis

When times were good all of Western Europe sought to attract cheap labour. But these migrant workers are now the first victims in times of crisis, writes politicial scientist Katarína Mallok in the liberal newspaper Sme. "The immigrants offered many advantages as labourers. They not only worked for much lower wages than locals, they also accepted poor conditions without a whimper. ... Now the financial crisis has pulled the rug out from under the European labour market. For example, the Spanish themselves are now willing to do the kind of work that used to be done by Africans in Spain. The government is offering bonuses to Africans willing to return home, but they don't want to go back to Africa. Germany can expect to encounter similar problems, while in Austria, the Netherlands and France no one knows what to do with this group of unemployed. The migrants, for their part, feel they are being treated unfairly, and have been left with the impression that when things were good they were no better than 'dirty robots'. Europe is sitting on a powder keg which it itself filled. It now sees that Max Frisch was right when he quipped: 'We called for labour, and what came was people'."

» full article (external link, Slovak)
More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » Africa, » Europe
All available articles from » Katarína Mallok

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, December 17, 2008