RE: Increase of the migration flow of the refugees to the territory of the European Union
Dear Mr. Shulz, on behalf of the entire population of the French Republic, I submit to You the request to put into the agenda at the next meeting of the European Parliament the issue about the adoption of the measures that will tackle the spread of the migration crisis within the territory of the European Union. I would like to draw attention to the fact that 2015 year has become the most crucial period for the population of France due to the fact that several thousands of the refugees started to migrate from the territory of the Eastern Europe as Ukraine and Syria to several countries – members of the European Union. Despite the fact that this process may benefit the member so the Union in the positive manner as to the increase of the working conditions and restriction of the employment level in these countries, several states, including France suffer from the absence of any restriction as to this overwhelming migration. In addition, under the current legislation of the European Union, the groups at power in the state members have no authority to decline the entrance to the refugees due to the provisions of the pivotal conventions on the protection of the human rights and obligations of the individual. From this point of view, the main concern of France as the outstanding member of the European Union lies in the opportunity to introduce stricter policy within the borders of the Union in order to address the further spread of the migration crisis (Duff, 2015).
Accordingly, the problem of the migration of the refugees seeking for the asylum in Italy, Greece, France and several other states of the European Union can not be ignored. In this respect, every country should fulfill the obligations under the human rights conventions in order to exercise the protection for the humans in need. For example, the Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that any person is vested with the legal rights to request for the asylum in case he is avoiding the prosecution in the personal state, while the rest of the states should provide the requested asylum. Besides, the United Nations Convention of 1951 as to the status of the refuges and related protocol defines the legal framework based on which the countries have the obligation to provide the asylum. Meanwhile, it should be said that the countries are responsible for the protection of the refuges as the refusal as to the provision of the relevant protection will be regarded by the international community as the violation of the basic rights and freedoms of the individual. Moreover, the violation of the primary rights of the human should be penalized by the relevant international institutions as the International Court of Justice, etc. In this regard, the state members of the European Union should consider the appropriate policy which will address the measures restricting the migration crisis without any damage to the economic position of the European Union and the status in the world as the caring and lawful entity (Juergensmeyer 121).
Consequently, it is highly important to ascertain what categories of the people fall within the scope of the notion of the refugee. Based on the several provisions of the international agreements, the refugee is considered to be any person that has become the subject of the prosecution what leads to the formation of the feeling of fear, while this individual has to the seek for the new place of residency and asylum.
In 2015, the European Union has already adopted several measures addressing the migration crisis. In particular, in May 2015, the European Commission adopted the Migration Agenda in accordance to which the member states bear the responsibility in addition to the duties under the international conventions to provide the assistance to the migrants. Besides, regardless of the declarative obligations to provide the assistance to the refuges, all countries of the European Union face the necessity to share the financial burden with regard to the support the basic needs of the refugees in form of the living, food, etc. Furthermore, the ongoing deepening of the migration crisis poses the threat to the political viability of the European Union what undermines the essence of the integration process. Therefore, the influence of the migration crisis addresses the desire of the perspective members to submit the applications to the institutions of the European Union for the consideration of the membership (Skov 15).
However, the European Union have certain internal limitations as to the quota of the places of the provision of the asylum for the refugees. Thus, the mandatory national quota amounts up to 120.000 places, while the transfer of the refugees is possible within the entire territory of the European Union. Besides, it is necessary to keep in mind that out of 28 states members of the European Union, 6 states do not participate in the provision of the asylums to the seekers. This approach of the leadership of the union towards the realization of the migration policy should not be regarded as successful one. The decision making process of the European Union is driven by the fact that the entire amount of the seekers should be allocated equally within the territories of the formation. In contrast, this conduct is misleading as the allocation of the seekers should be grounded on the availability of the working opportunities for the refugees and the adequate living conditions.
Therefore, the significance of the migration crisis over the further development of the European Union in general forces the countries to consider about the appropriate measures to be realized. In this respect, France suggests to implement the following plan having certain elements:
1. Achievement of the safety of the external borders within the Schengen territory
2. Analysis and pursuit of the new financial and funding sources for the support of the refugees
3. Maintain the implementation of the supranational legislation of European Union into the national legislation of the state members (Piotrowicz 345).
All these actions require the deliberate attention from the managing authorities of the union, while the complete and efficient realization of the measures is possible in case of joint efforts of the majority of the members of the European Union. Accordingly, the abovementioned elements cover the short-term incentives which should be realized in order to combat the migration crisis. With that, the European Union should seek for the instruments that will help to improve the safety at the external borders of the Union. Besides, the main task of the European Union today is to revise the Dublin Regulation. Under the provision of this legal act having the supranational power for the member states, the country which has received the application for the provision of the asylum is obliged to respond to this claim in the proper manner. According to the statistical data collected within the territory of the European Union, the most vulnerable places where the refugees come are Italy, Greece and Hungary. The other state members try to allocate the coming seekers to the territories of the other states, while this activity is not enough to diminish the burden of the responsibility between the countries. For example, the United Kingdom has promised that it will provide approximately up to 30.000 of refugees with the asylums.
Meanwhile, the efforts of the executives within the European Union are taken for the improvement of the border control jointly in cooperation with Western Balkan countries. This activity is caused by the fact that it has become quite difficult to ascertain what people exactly should be provided with the asylum. Despite the fact that majority of Syrians needs protection against the prosecution launched in their country, the rest of the people who just have the desire to enter the territory of the European Union mislead the facts and submit the untruthful application. Therefore, the Union has to conduct the deliberate analysis of all notices submitted in order to define the true refugees falling within the scope of the notion accepted in the international treaties. The other problem arises in relation to the provision of the asylums. Due to the fact that one country can not accept all the refugees coming, the relocation plan should be invoked. However, the practice shows that even the allocation of more than 200 refugees from the territory of Hungary to the United Kingdom takes more than three months. Thus, the new and innovative instruments for the realization of the relocation activity should be developed in order to facilitate the process of migration (Kahanec and Fabo 372).
Moreover, it is quite important to draw attention to the fact that identification system of the European Union is weak. Under this statement one should understand that in several cases the system is not able to identify the persons who have no legal right to stay in the European Union and should be returned to the place of origin. Simultaneously, the migration crisis poses the additional threat to the entire world due to the fact that for the arrival to the territory of the European Union, the refugees should pass a lot of borders and became the subject of numerous dangers. In this regard, there are reports about up to 2.000 of death of the refugees who have not succeeded to come to the European Union because of different reasons (Stojanovic 327).
On behalf of the nation of one member of the European Union, it should be said that the budget of the Union is limited. However, in 2014 the organization decided to use more than ten million EURO in order to tackle the crisis and provide the assistance to the people in need. Moreover, the additional financial schemes are used for the funding of the International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency. Moreover, the European Union is passing through the local international organization structure, due to the fact that the financial support should be given to the least developed states as Greece, Spain today. In this regard, one important fact should be take into account. All members of the European Union can not provide the financial assistance on permanent basis to the refugees coming from the vulnerable place, while the attention should be paid to the measures fostering the economical growth and prosperity of the European Union in long-term perspective. Furthermore, in February 2016 the European Commission has announced about the decision to give additional 3 billion EURO for Turkey which ensure the provision of the asylums for the relocated refugees. At the same time, the funding is given to African states and Syria which should focus on the elimination of the problems with the increase of the seekers. Thus, it is highly important to note that the same activity for the next years will lead to the deepening of the crisis in the European Union as the state members will deliver the desire to leave the European zone due to inability to support the development of the rest of the countries and maintain the peace in the conflict zones. Given the fact that the United Kingdom has already approached to this conduct and expressed the decision to hold the voting on the decision of the population about the membership in European Union, the rest of the member states are expected to act in the same manner. Therefore, nowadays the efforts of the state members in the European Union should be focused on the further development of the Union in social, economical and political dimensions regardless of the situation in Syria and other conflict zones. Moreover, it is not possible to address all challenges posed to the contemporary society within the world (Rabesandratana).
In contrast, the immigration policy of the European Union is one of he dimensions of the activity of the states. With adoption the principal agreements governing the operation of the European Union, covering Lisbon Treaty, the states bodies of the Union are vested with the authority to adopt the policy that governs the requirements posed to the people coming to the territory of the Union. Meanwhile, it is necessary to note the importance of the maintenance of the provisions and regulatory framework of the Directive stipulating the existence of the «Blue Card». This legal act provides the people from the countries outside the territory of the European Union to enjoy the working opportunities within the borders of the state members. This regulation is useful for the maintenance of employment level within the European Union regardless of the flow of the people. Besides, the overall size of the contemporary refugee influx poses several problems to the economic development of the European Union. In this regard, the following measures are seemed to be reasonable for the restriction of migration policy:
All member states of the European Union should cooperate jointly with each other in order to maintain the implementation of the Dublin Directive and develop the new legal acts that will substitute the inefficiency of the Dublin system;
The European Union should find the instruments that will allow for the refugees to come to the territory of the Union in safe manner without any dangers to the health of the people. Thus, in case the safety and security will be observed within the borders of the Union, the refugees will gain the opportunity to come safely in any country of the European Union;
In addition to the abovementioned factors there is no transparency about the entire amount of the refugees coming to the European Union so that not members of the Union can recognize the importance and significance of the migration crisis. In this regard, France and other countries accepting the refugees may request to introduce the clear and transparent mechanism which will contain the information about the volume of the people submitting the applications for the asylums as well as the allocation of the people within different state members. By virtue of this mechanism, the countries will gain the opportunity to have the understanding about the economical burden imposed over the particular member states in relation to the allocation and funding of the refugees (Brant).
Therefore, it is highly important today to start the process of the realization of the measures that will address the spread of the migration crisis in the European Union. From this perspective, one of the main task of the countries within the world is to adopt the humanitarian measures that will provide the countries with the opportunity to resolve the conflicts in the countries where the majority of the people become the subject of the prosecution policy. Therefore, as the European Union today is the main recipient of the refugees, the focus should be paid to the improvement of the reception capacity of the Union in order to meet the expectations of the refugees. At the same time, the members of the European Union should consider as to whether the financial support should be given to the conflict areas. From one perspective, this funding may diminish the flow of the refugees submitting the applications to the European Union. In addition, the economic impact of the flow of the refugees to the EU should not be ignored as today the entire economy of the European Union requires the immediate actions which will have the purpose to lead the development of the organization to the growth and prosperity. Simultaneously, the appropriate policy should be developed by the executives of the EU in order to facilitate the process of the economic integration of the refugees. Moreover, the overall amount of the seekers may be turned into the positive sign to the economy of the Union as by virtue of newcomers, the state members may fill the gaps in the employment market where there has been a lack in workers with particular skills. By elimination the unemployment rate, the state members will receive the economical benefits influencing the further development of the European Union regardless of the burden of the responsibility related to the support of the numerous refugees (McDougall 78).
Finally, the policy towards the resolution of the migration crisis within the European Union will impact the situation in the region in political, social and economical perspective as the Union is one of the major actors in the global arena.
Works Cited
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Carlsen, Lars. "An Alternative View On Distribution Keys For The Possible Relocation Of Refugees In The European Union". Soc Indic Res (2016): n. pag. Web.
Duff, Andrew. "Borderless Debate: Crisis And Reform Of The European Union. Europe’S Crisis Is Constitutional". The Federalist Debate 28.2 (2015): n. pag. Web.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. Thinking Globally. Print.
Kahanec, M., and B. Fabo. "Migration Strategies Of Crisis-Stricken Youth In An Enlarged European Union". Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 19.3 (2013): 365-380. Web.
McDougall, Derek. "The Syrian Refugee Crisis In Europe: Is The Australian Approach To Asylum Seekers And Refugees Relevant?". The Round Table 105.1 (2016): 77-79. Web.
Piotrowicz, R. "Subsidiary Protection Of Refugees In The European Union: Complementing The Geneva Convention?". International Journal of Refugee Law 15.2 (2003): 345-346. Web.
Rabesandratana, Tania. "European Union Helps Match Refugees With Science Jobs". Science (2015): n. pag. Web.
Skov, Gine. "Transfer Back To Malta: Refugees’ Secondary Movement Within The European Union". Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies (2016): 1-17. Web.
Stojanovic, Nikola. "Crisis In The Mediterranean Neighbourhood: A Test For The European Union Migration Policy". Medjunar probl 67.4 (2015): 328-348. Web.
