euro|topics - Immigration and integration

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Tema destacado del Miércoles, 5. Abril 2006

Lamentablemente, todavía no se encuentra disponible la traducción en española de este texto, por lo tanto, solamente podemos poner a su disposición la versión inglesa.

Immigration and integration

Many European countries today are questioning their capacity to play host to people from foreign countries. Naturalisation tests are on the increase, even in those countries where immigrants traditionally live within their own communities. The problem is as much cultural as economic.

Les Echos - Francia

"It is generally acknowledged that the United States are better than Europe when it comes to integrating Muslim immigrants," notes Stephan Richter, chief editor of the American weekly 'The Globalist'. "For many American observers the European failure is due to political error: Europeans preferred welfare to any significant attempt to integrate newcomers into their societies." Richter does not share this view. "The education and training of many of the Muslims who have come to the United States place them among their home countries' most highly qualified people. ... In Europe the situation is very different. Most Muslim emigrés have experienced difficulties because they have no qualifications, are poor, and do not speak English. ...America has a selective immigration policy, not Europe. There lies the difference." (05/04/2006)

Financial Times - Gran Bretaña

Columnist Martin Wolf is not against poorly qualified immigrants coming to Europe, but wonders about the economic impact. "With fewer immigrants, the economy would simply grow more slowly. But the question for existing citizens is not whether immigration raises the size of the economy, but whether it increases their own incomes per head. ... The opening of world trade is eliminating opportunities for production of labour-intensive tradeable goods and services in high-income contries. Employment of the native-born unskilled must be in non-tradeable activities. If unskilled immigrants drive down wages for such jobs, too, a hapless underclass will inevitably emerge. Does this matter ? The answer depends on whether extreme inequality is compatible with successful democracy." (05/04/2006)

Der Standard - Austria

The newspaper discusses the different citizenship tests in Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands and Great Britain and which are now under disussion in Germany and Austria. "The Austrian version foresees the introduction of 'citizenship tests' which, if applied to Austrian citizens under threat of expatriation, would leave entire regions of the country empty. Even the most ingrained inhabitants of Upper Austria would have problems answering questions like 'In which Upper Austrian town are there two famous winged altars?'", Samo Kobenter mocks, adding, "This is a constant feature of the tests: under the pretext of improving their knowledge of Austrian history and culture, future Austrian citizens will have exactly the type of small-minded provincialism drummed into them which people deny exists here." (05/04/2006)

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Alemania

Heribert Prantl is deeply concerned about the debate about the integration of immigrant children in German schools after a school in Berlin felt compelled to surrender to the violence of the pupils: "There are ten rules which must be observed to prevent the successful integration of foreigners in German society. Since the scandal broke out about conditions at the Rütli School in Berlin, politicians have managed to follow a number of them," Prantl writes, citing threats to use repressive measures and even deport "integration-resistant" immigrants as an example. "This aggressive approach will achieve only one thing, namely that minorities increasingly take refuge in their otherness. Integration is still a new word – both for the old and the new citizens of Germany... There's a lot at stake. This is about a second German reunification, this time between old and new German citizens, or in other words, between German citizens and citizens of foreign origin." (05/04/2006)

» de toda la revista de prensa del Miércoles, 5. Abril 2006

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